Winning His Heart
by Nature9000
Summary: Sam and Freddie struggle with their feelings for each other, and when a girlfriend from his past shows up, confusion enters and it seems to be harder for Sam to win his affections. Will she win his heart, or will he give his heart back to his first love?
1. Freddie Benson

Winning Freddie's Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: For those of you who haven't seen Gym Teacher, that's fine. I'm doing this simply because the fact that Nathan Kress played Roland inspired me to write this. He kisses a girl in the movie…I will include some detail of the movie in this story, but you don't have to have watched it completely. It'll still make sense to you. Oh, and the characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 1 (Freddie Benson)

Freddie yawned and sat up in his bed, it was yet another new morning for him. He glanced out his window and frowned, yet another day he wished that he could go back to his old school. Another day when he wished he could return to the people who once meant the most to him, and the man that taught him some of the most important lessons in life. Of course, he knew it would never come. He now lived with his aunt and uncle, Emily and John Benson. He changed his name completely, making his middle name Dave, in memory of his gym coach, Dave Stewie.

Freddie slowly pushed himself out of the bed and walked toward the window, continuing to gaze out of it. He watched as a group of kids played street basketball. He smirked and thought about how he could go down there and shoot a few hoops, if he wanted to. He could recall a time when he never was athletic, or strong for that matter. Of course, he worked out more often, since then at least. That was over four years ago, when he went to a different school and participated in some athletic competition. He was weak, and his gym teacher had trained him.

_"We won_," Freddie thought while smiling softly. He could remember holding on to that rope and climbing up the rope as if it meant his life. He smirked as he remembered throwing a helmet at someone, knocking the person out. _"They did deserve it."_ His mom had been so proud of him, as was the entire class. Everyone had been shocked and glad that he came out on top. His coach's rival, Mr. Shelly Bragg had been greatly upset at the loss. _"I hate that man."_

Bragg was the reason Freddie now lived with his Aunt and Uncle. Bragg was the reason that Freddie wasn't able to contact his coach or any of his old friends. Apparently the man had begun drinking heavily because of his loss that he hit Freddie's mom while driving, though he had been aiming for Mr. Stewie. She died instantly, and Freddie was sent to live with his only relatives. Naturally, he changed his last name. He chose to change his first name, he hated it. _"Roland Waffle…what the hell kind of name is that anyway? Sam would mock me for eternity if she knew that one."_

Freddie watched the kids on the street, three of them looked very familiar to him, though he knew they weren't the people that he was thinking of. _"Derek, Morgan, and Champ, to think all it took to win them over was winning the competition."_ Those three were the best athletes in the class, and the first ones to start picking on him. _"Of course, I had been a pretty big dork back then…Hell, I'm still a bit interested in science fiction."_ Freddie didn't like to think too much about his old interests, because it brought forth many memories._ "Of course, that's not the only thing that gives me memories."_

Freddie breathed in a sigh and turned around, he looked at his desk and saw the picture of Sam and Carly, with him in between the two girls. _"Carly…I don't really love her, and I'm not stupid. I know she would never love me back."_ Carly looked like a certain girl in his past, her name was Susie. She was a very pretty girl, and she was his first love interest. _"My first girlfriend…Sam and Carly think Valerie was my first. Jeremy was wrong as well, Susie was the first girl I kissed, not Valerie."_

Freddie closed his eyes and crossed his arms, the memory of Susie entered his mind. He remembered that conversation they had while in his home, and the talk they had about a science fiction magazine, where the guy kissed the girl in the end. It was then that he shared his first kiss. He and Susie kissed each other's lips and the fireworks flew. _"Of course, I've moved on since her…I sort of wish Sam would go out with me, but I don't think she ever would."_

Freddie walked to his closet and started pulling out his clothes, he had to have something good to wear. He had to wonder why Mrs. Benson had such bad clothing for him. Freddie blinked and a sarcastic smirk formed on his lips. _"Oh wait, that's my mother's fault to begin with, telling Aunt Emily that I needed crap for clothes."_ He shrugged and threw his best looking clothing items on the bed, they didn't actually look half bad. Freddie crossed his arms and tilted his head to the side, he could be seen in those clothes. Freddie tilted his head back and thought of his mother, she was so crazy and overprotective, just like his aunt. _"Sisters have to be that close, why, I'll never know."_ Freddie shrugged his shoulders and started to change into his clothes.

He never called his aunt and uncle by anything other than mom and dad, simply because he didn't want anyone to know about his past. If he called them his aunt and uncle, everyone would become inquisitive. There were only two people that knew anything about his previous life, and those two people were his best friends, Jake and Jonah. Jake had actually met him long ago, when Freddie was known as Roland. Jonah was in the audience that saw the competition, so he knew Freddie right when he saw him.

Thankfully, Jonah never told the girls. He had asked about why Freddie never talked about his past, and he respected that some things were too painful to talk about. Freddie honestly missed everything about his past, that much was evident. _"It's painful to remember, that's why I choose to move on as Freddie Benson. Truly falling in love with Carly would be ridiculous, like falling in love with a memory."_ He couldn't even begin to fathom the amount of grief he'd be given if Sam or Carly knew about his past. Therefore, he had to keep it secret from them.

He finished putting on his clothes and went in to brush his teeth, he stared into the mirror with bored eyes until finally rinsing out the toothpaste. He then left his room and walked into the main room where the Bensons were. "Hey Uncle John, how are you?" Freddie asked while sitting on the couch next to his uncle. It was only in private and when no one else was around that he ever used the terms "Uncle" or "Aunt."

"I'm good, Freddie, how was your night?" John asked. Freddie merely shrugged and sniffed the air, he could smell something good coming from the kitchen. John caught this action and smiled softly. "Emily and I made some omelets just a little while ago, you can have one now if you want."

"Sure, I love those things." Freddie hurried into the kitchen and saw Emily placing an omelet on a tray. She glanced at him and smiled.

"Good morning, Ro-Freddie," Emily said in a soft voice. Freddie chuckled lightly and let out a sigh, four years down the road, and she still slipped up at times. Of course, he slipped up himself at times. One time, he had almost called Carly, Susie.

"Good morning Aunt Emily." Freddie smiled and thought back on when he nearly mixed up Carly's name. _"That would have been something requiring a _lot_ of explanation."_ Freddie took the plate and sat down at the table. Emily looked over to see him staring at his food in deep thought, she wasn't sure what he was thinking about, so she asked.

"Freddie, is something bothering you?" Freddie took a bite of his food and looked up, he smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Not really, though my old friends _have_ been on my mind lately." Emily sighed and smiled as she sat down next to him, John entered the room at that moment, interested in the conversation.

"You're still having trouble moving on from them?" John asked while placing his hand on Freddie's shoulder. Freddie took another bite of his food and shrugged, the memories were fluent, but they hadn't always been this much trouble.

"I remember how painful it was when you first moved here," Emily said while crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair. "You were so distraught about leaving your favorite teacher, your friends, and the life you knew back then. You even had to break up with that one girl…"

"Susie was her name," Freddie responded while taking another bite of his food. "That pain that I felt subsided, but it feels like it's come back. I mean, I was only infatuated with Carly because she _looked_ like Susie, but I'm not infatuated with her anymore. Actually, I have feelings for Sam…but lately, I've been thinking a lot of Susie, and I don't really know why."

"I can't explain that one very well, either," John said while letting out a small sigh. "The best advice I can give you is to remember the good times you had with Susie, but also know that you must continue on. Sam is a very good girl, and I think you would have something great if you chose to pursue a relationship with her. You shouldn't let someone who was in your past hold you back from being happy in the present and future." Freddie smiled and nodded his head in response, the words spoken made a lot of sense to him.

"Yeah, you're right…thanks Uncle John." Freddie took his plate over to the sink and rinsed it off. "I guess it's time to go to school, I just have to wait for Jake and Jonah to arrive." Freddie rolled his eyes and the others chuckled. He usually walked to school with his friends, but the issue with them was they were usually later than they said they'd be. Generally, it was because Jake hated getting up in the mornings.

"Oh, Freddie, will you be going to the gym today?" Emily asked in a quick voice. Freddie often went to the gym with his friends, he wanted to work out, since he felt as though it was keeping with the memory of his coach.

"Yes, I'll be going to the gym…"

"Okay, then I know that I'll be cooking supper a little later." Emily gave Freddie a smile and walked over to the counter. She picked up a pen and started writing on a notepad, possibly making a note that Freddie would be going to the gym after school.

* * *

Well, the first chapter should have told you a bit. Note that Freddie was a dork at his old school. So, Freddie's a bit troubled with his past, we'll just have to see where everything goes and what is to come. Stick around.


	2. The Walk

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 2 (The Walk)

Freddie sat down on the couch and propped his feet on the coffee table in front of him. He then turned on the television and started watching some random channel; he didn't really care what was on. John walked over and sat on the couch. "I just got off the phone with Jonah; he says that once he gets Jake away from the swimsuit magazine, they'll be here."

"Swimsuit magazine, that's why they're taking a while…" Freddie responded while staring at his Uncle. He then laughed and crossed his arms over. "That seems appropriate for Jake." John chuckled and nodded his head, he had to agree, Jake was definitely an odd person. Of course, that didn't mean they didn't enjoy having him around. Freddie shifted his eyes to the television and then back toward the door, he didn't really care for anything that was on. "So, how long did Jonah say they'd be?"

"I believe he said they'd be here in less than three minutes. If you leave now, you can catch up with them." Freddie nodded and stood up, he didn't have any reason not to leave. Emily walked into the living room and smiled at Freddie. She was about to ask him if he remembered his tick lotion, but John stopped her. "Emily, the boy does _not_ have ticks." John stood up and Emily looked at him with wide eyes, concerned that she needed to give Freddie his lotion. "Besides, that stuff's for dogs, I've told you this."

"But John, we never know!" John chuckled and pulled his wife into a hug.

"Hey, once our nephew's out of the house, then we can do something together. Maybe go to the movies, or just find something to do here. Of course, the fun doesn't start until Freddie's gone for school." John smirked and Freddie merely rolled his eyes. He could remember talking to his old teacher, Mr. Stewie once and the man told him he couldn't possibly use that excuse with his mom, since they were both teachers. "So, what do you say you let the tick lotion slide for today, and we get Freddie out of the house as quickly as possible? I guarantee you; he won't come back with ticks."

"Oh, okay, but only today!" John smirked and Freddie chuckled lightly, John used speeches like that every day. He had to be extremely thankful that his Uncle could match up easily with his Aunt. Freddie took his backpack off the couch and put it on, he then walked over and gave Emily a hug. "Have fun at school, Freddie." John repeated Emily's line and gave him a quick hug. "Remember, look both ways before crossing any streets. Don't go into any strange alleys either, your father and I don't want to have to investigate the murder of our nephew!"

"Yeah, I'll be sure to make note of that," Freddie responded. John rolled his eyes and chuckled as Freddie turned and left the apartment. Freddie slowly shook his head and chuckled lightly. "Aunt Emily means well, that's for sure."

"Who is Aunt Emily?" A voice asked. Freddie jerked slightly and looked over to see Jake and Jonah walking down the hall, smirks were present on their faces. Jonah was the one talking. "Dude, if you want to keep it secret, you have to be more careful. Carly _does_ live right across the hall from you."

"Yeah, that's true. So Jake, how was that magazine?" Freddie smirked and Jonah quickly covered Jake's mouth.

"Please, don't get him started!" Freddie laughed and walked toward his friends. Jake merely pulled Jonah's hand off and groaned slightly. "Well, did you have a good talk with your Aunt and Uncle, or should I say, _Mom and Dad_?" Freddie nodded and the group walked toward an elevator and entered it.

"Well that's good," Jake said while crossing his arms and smirking. "We have to make sure our buddy, _Roland_ is having a good time."

"Hey, no teasing today," Freddie said while narrowing his eyes. Jake apologized and patted Freddie on the back. "You know, everything in my past has been on my mind a lot more lately…I'm not sure why."

"Who knows, maybe you're just having repercussions or something. Did anyone do or say anything that made you remember your old life?" Freddie shrugged and stared ahead as the elevator doors opened on the first floor. They walked out and ignored Lewbert's ear piercing cry about people being in his lobby. Jake rolled his eyes and sighed as the group exited the door. "I swear to god, that man gives me a headache."

"Yeah, someone needs to tell him to shut up," Jonah replied.

"I'm used to him by now," Freddie said while shifting his eyes to the side. "What did you call him, Jonah?" Jonah looked over and chuckled lightly.

"Captain Wart Burger…" Freddie and Jake laughed and nodded in remembrance.

"Yeah, that was a good one, too." Freddie looked straight ahead as the group continued walking down the street. "Things remind me of my past all the time, they always have. You remember, I told you that Carly reminded me a lot of Susie…"

"Yeah, and that's why you became infatuated with her," Jake stated while glancing toward the side. "At least Jonah and I helped you out of that one like you wanted." Freddie nodded and Jake pointed toward the park. "We can cut through the park and get there faster." Freddie nodded and the group started walking toward the park. "By the way, they built a new obstacle course at the park, it's awesome!" Freddie raised his eyebrow and Jonah merely nodded his head.

"They have a bunch of stuff there, we saw it just this morning," Jonah said while grinning. "We should check it out sometime!" Freddie nodded and checked his watch, he looked up and grinned.

"We still have enough time to take a look," Freddie said while looking toward the park with excitement. Jonah and Jake raised their eyebrows and looked toward each other, they chuckled and pat Freddie's shoulder, knowing that he would naturally want to get on the obstacle course. "We don't have to do anything with it, but it'd be good to get a look."

"Yeah, I think we'll look at it, but we'll be sure to hold you down, since we don't have time to get on anything." Freddie blinked and looked over at his friends, they were smirking at him.

"What kind of person do you take me for? I know we shouldn't get on the obstacle course…" Jake chuckled and Jonah shook his head, it was hard for Freddie to resist doing something that involved sports. Even in school, he wanted to get involved, but iCarly held him back. "You guys know me, I'll just look, and I won't start running through the course until we get some time to actually get involved with it."

"I don't know about that, you usually love getting involved in sporty things." Freddie narrowed his eyes and let out a small, defeated sigh.

"Let's just go." Jonah chuckled and patted Freddie's back while walking toward the park. Jake leaned in toward Jonah and whispered to him.

"Do you think we should let Freddie know that there is a rope climb thing around there? He'll probably want to climb it, just for the hell of it." Jonah chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. Freddie shifted his eyes over and raised his eyebrow.

"I heard that, Jake." Jake shrugged and crossed his arms. "It's not necessary for me to climb any ropes, and I'd rather not. Not even if the rope was-" Freddie stopped walking and stared ahead, his jaw dropped when he spotted a rope. "Twenty feet high…holy…crap!" Jonah laughed lightly and walked toward a sign on the obstacle course, he started reading and smiled.

"Actually, the rope measures about twenty three feet and two inches," Jonah said while looking up at the rope. "That is one long rope." Freddie nodded and continued to stare up it, his jaw still hung down. He felt his blood pulsing in his veins, and his heart starting to beat at a faster pace. Jonah raised his eyebrow and looked over. "We'll come back here later, but for now, let's get moving." Jake nodded and placed his hand on Freddie's shoulder, shaking him.

"What? I'm here…let's get moving, we don't want to be late for school!" Jonah and Jake chuckled as Freddie started walking off, they knew how eager he was to climb it, so they were going to make a point to climb the rope after school. Of course, they weren't going to let Freddie have all the fun, they were going to climb that rope as well.

"Do you think your mom would mind if you climbed the rope?" Jake asked while crossing his arms. Freddie shrugged in response, his aunt didn't care that much if he did such things, since she knew he enjoyed them so much. "Do you ever think about your real mom? What was she like?"

"She was crazy and overprotective, just like Aunt Emily. "Of course, they were sisters. I loved my mom, though. Did you know that Mr. Stewie wanted to get married to her? Mom was waiting for him to propose to her as well, but that never came…" Jake frowned and Freddie looked toward the ground. "Mr. Bragg hit my mom while driving while drunk, but he was conscious enough to know what he was doing. He admitted that he had been aiming for Mr. Stewie…"

"What can we say to that? Other than, remember the good things."

"Yeah, don't dwell too much over the past," Jonah stated as he patted Freddie's shoulder. "Crap happens, there isn't a lot that you can do about it. If one could go back in time, we would hope to go back and stop that accident from happening. Though, it'd be rough for most of us." Freddie raised his eyebrow and Jake let out a small laugh.

"Yeah, just imagine what it'd be like if we changed that," Jake said while smiling. "You'd still be living in another state, having a few great friends, and dating that Susie girl…" Jake looked toward the ground and shifted his eyes to the side. "Yet, we would never know you." Freddie raised his eyebrow and looked over. "You know, they say good comes out of everything, even the bad. We have a great best friend in you, and we're really good friends with each other, something that never would have happened had we not met you."

"You brought us together, simple as that," Jonah said while smiling. "You also have a great friendship with Carly and Sam, even if Carly reminds you of Susie. You also have girls crowding all around you, like that Shannon girl for example." Freddie moaned and shook his head, he honestly didn't like Shannon. "I think if we didn't know you, things would be very different, and maybe even duller."

"I know I'd be bored as hell!" Jake laughed and the others raised their eyebrow. "Just think about it. All the stuff we do together, we would never do if you didn't come around. Of course, it doesn't mean that it was good that your mother died, it just means that you shouldn't worry too much on it and try to be happy with the current situation you have now." Freddie chuckled and nodded his head in agreement.

"I know I wouldn't have so many girls crowding around me back where I used to live. Although, I wouldn't care, because I had a girlfriend…I do wonder what Susie's been up to these days."

"Do you ever want to find her again?" Freddie blinked and stared ahead as they approached their school, he shrugged and let out a small sigh.

"To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure. I mean, I'm perfectly happy with the life I have here, and she would just bring about so many memories that I don't have anymore. She is a part of my past…what if we've grown apart?"

"You never really know," Jonah responded in a quiet voice. The group walked up the steps of the school and through the doors, ready to begin yet another day.

* * *

I hope you liked the chapter. The first two chapters are more introductory, to give you an idea about Gym teacher.


	3. Women of His Life

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 3 (Women of his Life)

"Well, I have to get to the library, so I'll see you guys after school," Jake said while hurrying toward the library. Freddie and Jonah then continued down the hall, stopping when Valerie walked up to them. She greeted Jonah with a hug and smiled at him.

"How are you?" Valerie asked while stepping back and looking from Jonah to Freddie.

"I'm good," Jonah responded. "How are you?"

"Not bad at all." Jonah smiled and crossed his arms over, he had become friends with Valerie, as did Sam. He didn't date Valerie, but he wished he could. He just wasn't sure how to go about asking her out, or even if he deserved to ask any girls out, after what happened with Sam. Freddie kept telling him that he should just ask her out, and not worry about what happened before. Freddie didn't even beat Jonah up, but he did have a long talk with him about cheating on Sam. Valerie looked over at Freddie and tapped her chin, as if she were trying to remember something. "I think Sam and Carly said they want you to go see them before heading off to class, Freddie." Freddie nodded and glanced over toward the hall where Sam and Carly often hung out. "By the way, Shannon and her friends were also looking for you, so look out for them." Freddie coughed and Valerie chuckled lightly, they all knew he didn't like to bother with that girl. "She had that lovesick look on her face."

"Yeah, I'll be avoiding her," Freddie said while shuddering. "Have fun, I'm going to see Sam and Carly, now. If anything, Sam's probably giving Gibby a wedgie right now."

"Uh, yeah, I think she said she was going to do that while waiting." Freddie laughed and slowly shook his head, he always enjoyed how Sam acted, he thought it was cute. Freddie started walking toward the hallway, eager to see what Sam and Carly were up to. "By the way Jonah, I met this new girl, she's in one of my classes! She's really neat, and sort of technical too…"

"Cool, maybe she can help you set up a webshow of your own," Jonah said while smirking.

"Yeah, maybe, but I don't know her that well. I _just_ met her." Valerie tapped her chin in thought and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess it'd be good to get to know her a little more. She's also in one of Sam's classes, I think Sam would like her." Valerie looked over to see Shannon shouting for Freddie and running toward where he left. "I_ so_ hope she doesn't meet Shannon or become friends with her…" Jonah laughed and nodded his head, he had to agree, it might turn another girl into another Shannon.

Freddie stopped walking and narrowed his eyes when he heard Shannon behind him, he turned around and sighed when he saw her looking at him with a longing look in her eyes. "Shannon…how are you? I need to go now, so…bye." Freddie turned around and felt Shannon place her hand on his arm. He stopped walking and groaned slightly. "Shannon, why do you have your hand on my arm? Please, feel free to _let go_." Freddie looked at her once more and sighed, she still had a dazed and lovesick expression on her face.

"You're so hot, Freddie!" Shannon exclaimed. Freddie rolled his eyes and turned full toward Shannon, pulling his arm out of her grasp. Jonah and Valerie looked over as they passed him, they wondered if they should help. Valerie looked past Freddie and saw the new girl walk by, she smiled and waved at the girl. The girl waved back and walked out of sight, her long, brown hair waving in the wind.

"Hey Shannon, come here a second!" Jonah said in a quick voice. Shannon blinked and looked over, she scowled at him and huffed.

"Why would I go over to you? You're a womanizer!" Jonah winced and Valerie gave him a sad look, she could feel his pain. Valerie narrowed her eyes and walked toward Shannon.

"Don't talk to him like that," Valerie stated while growling at the woman. "You don't know him, and you never will. Why don't you take your preppy little ass and move it to a dark corner, I'm sure you'd have fun."

"What do you know? You're just a stuck up girl…" Valerie's jaw dropped and she slowly began to grow angry. She was not stuck up, if anyone was stuck up, it was Shannon. "Plus, you _used_ Freddie, I would never do that." Valerie growled and lifted her hand up, Jonah placed his hand on Valerie's shoulder and Freddie calmly took her wrist.

"She's not worth it," Freddie said while giving a sigh. He glared at Shannon and released Valerie's wrist, letting her bring her arm toward her side. Shannon huffed and looked over as her two best friends started walking toward her. "Oh no, it's her friends…" Freddie groaned and Jonah patted his back, while Valerie merely glared at the three girls. "I should run before they pounce me."

"Yeah, those two and every other girl in the school," Valerie said while snickering. Freddie chuckled and shrugged his shoulders.

"Actually every girl minus four…Carly, thankfully, isn't interested. Stephanie, Jake's girlfriend, isn't interested. I'd be afraid if she was, to be perfectly honest. You're not interested-"

"Sorry…" Valerie looked toward the ground, guilty for having used Freddie in such a manner. When it happened, she swore she'd never do it again. Sam came to her and talked to her about it, and the two girls became friends. Freddie smiled at Valerie and shrugged his shoulders, showing he didn't really care anymore.

"Why apologize? I know you're sorry for it, and it really doesn't matter anymore. It's in the past." Freddie crossed his arms and looked to the side. "Then there's Sam…" Valerie and Jonah looked over at Freddie as he took in a breath, they frowned and Freddie merely shrugged. "Of course se doesn't like me."

"You don't know that." Valerie smiled at Freddie and he merely chuckled. It seemed pretty clear to him, but he wasn't sure if he was really ready to worry about moving on anyway. "I've talked to her, she told me-"

"Freddie!" A voice exclaimed. Freddie moaned and shifted his eyes over, Shannon's friends finally stopped talking to her and were now focusing on him. Valerie had to step out of the way to avoid being trampled by the girls. She looked over and saw the new girl looking her way.

"Valerie!" The girl exclaimed. "Hey, can you show me how to find my class!"

"Yeah, I'll be right there!" Valerie called out. "Sorry Freddie, I have to help my new friend."

"Sure, leave me with these sharks," Freddie said as the girls started grabbing at him. Valerie looked at him apologetically and quickly rushed toward the girl. Jonah watched her leave and smiled softly.

"So beautiful," Jonah said while crossing his arms.

"Jonah, a little help here, please!" Jonah looked over at Freddie and saw the girls trying to kiss him. He winced as the girls pulled at Freddie's arms.

"Hey, ladies, get off!" Jonah quickly dived in and started to try and push the girls off of his friend before they did any damage. "Hey! Gibby's coming this way, and he doesn't have his shirt on!" The girls stopped and gasped. They didn't bother looking to see if Jonah was telling the truth, so they merely took off in a run.

"Thanks for that." Freddie dusted himself off and Jonah helped to make sure Freddie didn't fall over. "Savages, that's what they are!" Jonah laughed and Freddie glanced over. "I'm going to go see Sam and Carly, so I'll see you after school."

"Alright, have fun man." Freddie nodded and walked off, just missing Valerie and the new girl as they passed him, looking at their schedules. Freddie finally made it to the lockers and saw Sam looking at him with a smirk.

"Hey Dork, what took you so long?" Sam asked while walking over to him. "Why is your shirt messed up?"

"My shirt shouldn't be messed up," Freddie said while looking down.

"No, it is! It's not straight or anything. Is this a new look for you? If you must know, you look even dorkier!"

"Gee, thanks a lot. That makes me feel so good." Freddie rolled his eyes and straightened his shirt, growing more irritated with Shannon and her friends by the second. Sam smirked at him and tilted her head to t he side.

"I'm glad to be of assistance to you!" Freddie rolled his eyes and shrugged. Carly slowly shook her head and stepped next to her friends.

"Okay, so what does everyone think the next segment of iCarly should be?" Carly asked while flicking a piece of lint off her sleeve. Sam and Freddie shrugged, they had no clue what they wanted to do for the next show.

"We could promote Valerie's webshow," Sam said while smiling. She wanted to help her friend in any way that she could. "Though, she hasn't started it and still needs a technical producer and possibly a co host." Sam crossed her arms and frowned, Valerie had neither.

"Well Jonah knows quite a bit about technical stuff, now, thanks to being friends with me." Sam smirked and slowly shook her head.

"Yeah, a dork like you just had to teach your ways to another, how pathetic can you get? I'm surprised Jake hasn't become a dork!" Freddie rolled his eyes and shifted his eyes over to see Rueben walking toward Sam. She looked over and moaned. Quickly she stepped next to Freddie and wrapped her arm around his, Freddie was taken by shock at first but then he relaxed, enjoying the situation. Rueben blinked and stared at Sam as she grinned at him. "Why hello there, Rueben, how are you?"

"Are you and Freddie together?" Rueben asked, his voice starting to break.

"Oh Sam, you're not dating Freddie!" Carly said in a quick voice. Freddie nodded and slipped his arm away from Sam's, he didn't notice the sad look on her face when he slipped away from her. Rueben's face brightened and he smiled widely.

"Sam, would you like to ride pigs over the desert with me?" Freddie moaned inwardly, annoyed with Rueben's choice of words. Of course, Rueben annoyed him constantly, mostly because he kept asking Sam out. Carly realized her mistake and rubbed her forehead, knowing she should have just shut up.

"Let me think about that," Sam said in a quiet voice. She looked toward the ground and shifted her eyes to the side, she really didn't want to go out with Rueben. Of course, that wasn't the reason she felt heartache. Sam shook it off and lifted her head, glaring with angry and pained eyes. "No! I don't want to do that, or any other weird things with you! I don't even know what the hell you're saying half the time! Just leave me alone, go ride pigs with some other person." Rueben looked hurt and Sam turned around and walked away. "I'm going to class."

"Sam, wait a minute!" Freddie called out. Carly frowned and crossed her arms, she understood why Sam was upset, but the others most likely didn't.

"Shut up, dork." Sam kept walking away, not caring about Freddie or anything else at the time. _"Stupid Rueben, stupid Freddie…if he's so damn smart, then why…"_ Sam tripped and nearly fell into Jake as he passed.

"Hey, what's going on?" Jake asked as Sam regained her composure. She shook it off and looked toward Jake.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I need to get to class." Jake raised his eyebrow and watched as Sam started to leave.

"Uh, Sam, class is _this_ way." Sam stopped walking and blinked as she looked toward Jake, in her frustration, she had forgotten that she had first period with Jake. She chuckled lightly and started walking in the direction he was going. "You don't mind telling me what's on your mind, do you?" Sam shrugged as she and Jake entered the door, they waved at Valerie as she exited. Jake sat in his seat next to Sam and Sam sat down in her chair, she noticed that some books were on the desk next to her, the desk was usually empty.

"It's nothing, Jake…" He raised his eyebrow and she stared at her desk. "Just your best friend, he irritates me _so_ _much!_" Jake frowned and Sam hit her desk once. "Stupid dorks, stupid men, why the hell can't love ever leave someone alone? I hate it."

"I don't know what to tell you, Sam. I would let Freddie know your feelings for him, but you're so set on keeping it confidential." Sam growled and glared at Jake, she didn't care who he was, if he told Freddie anything that she told him, he would be no more.

"Rueben irritates me too…" Jake looked up as a girl sat down in the desk next to Sam, it was the same girl that Valerie had been with. He had seen Valerie walking the girl to her classes. "Why the hell doesn't Rueben get that I don't like him? Then I slip my arm in Freddie's arm and make it so it seems like I'm dating him, and Rueben will leave me the hell alone, but NO, it can't be that way! Freddie slips his arm away from me and then Carly says I'm not really dating him…"

"I'm sorry…" Jake shifted his eyes over and frowned, he knew Freddie would feel awkward if that happened, so it was easily explained. The girl next to Sam tapped her on the shoulder and smiled, Sam looked over and her eyes grew wide and then narrow.

"Great, another girl that looks like Carly…just like Valerie resembled Carly a little." Sam sighed and placed her elbow on the desk while placing her hand on the side of her face. The girl merely blinked as Sam put on an expressionless face. "Do yourself a favor, if you ever meet someone named Freddie Benson, just stay away."

"Why? Who's that person?" The girl asked while tilting her head to the side. Sam blinked and chuckled lightly.

"Nevermind, he's just some dork who thinks he happens to be smart." The girl smiled and crossed her arms.

"Do you like him or something?"

"Two words for you, hell and no." Jake rolled his eyes and stared at the board, he saw that the teacher had written the name of a new student. It sounded familiar to him, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"Well, I heard you say something about loving someone, I wasn't eavesdropping or anything, I just heard it."

"Any clue _who_ I was talking about?" Sam narrowed her eyes and the girl put up her hands in defense.

"No, I didn't." It was true, she had no clue as to who the person Sam was talking about was. She also assumed Freddie was some random person that Sam met, so she didn't think much of it.

"Good, and my best advice for you is to never fall in love with someone. It can be the biggest mistake of your life."

"Why? Falling in love is great!" Sam raised her eyebrows and Jake shifted his eyes over. "Okay, so I'm new here, so-"

"I'm not the best person that you should meet first." The girl looked slightly confused and let out a small sigh.

"Sorry…" Sam felt guilty for a second and shifted her eyes toward the board and back to the girl.

"Don't worry about it, I should be apologizing to you. I didn't mean to offend you or anything. Oh, and lucky you, you got first period with _Mrs. Briggs_! That's the worst possible teacher ever." The girl laughed and Sam raised her eyebrow.

"Her name sounds a lot like Mr. Braggs!" Jake raised his eyebrow and Sam tilted her head in confusion. "Oh, he was just this really mean gym coach, actually…" The girl turned her head down and scoffed lightly. "I don't like the guy at all, for what he did." Jake blinked and shifted his eyes back to the board. "I guess it's not important now, and I don't want to bore you with anything."

"Oh feel free to, you won't be boring me, I'm bored enough as it is. In fact, you say falling in love is great, why don't you share_ your_ story?"

"I guess I can. I don't really like talking about it though, because it hurts. I mean, we had a great relationship for the few months we were together…it was four years ago." Jake listened in with interest as he took a water bottle from his backpack, he took the cap off and started to drink the water. "He was new, and so cute. In the end…I don't like talking about how it ended."

"I hope I'm not opening any old wounds." The girl smiled and wiped a tear from her eye.

"No, you're not. Actually, thinking back, it brings me a lot of good memories. I don't know if I could say we were in love, but what Roland and I had was pretty strong." Jake's eyes shot open and he started choking on the water. The girl shot up quickly and Sam started patting Jake's back, concerned about why he was choking.

"Are you okay? Take a breath, Jake…" Jake nodded and exhaled slowly. He figured it was a coincidence, though the clues were starting to add up. Sam gave a sigh of relief and turned toward the girl, still concerned about what happened with Jake. "So, tell me more."

"Okay…" The girl slowly sat back in her seat and continued with her story. "Well, Roland had to leave because of something that happened, he moved away. I've had to move on, because I know I'll never see him again."

"That sucks."

"Yeah, but it gets better over time, I guess." Sam nodded and closed her eyes, thinking about her feelings for Freddie, and how she was sure they were unreturned.

"I know how you feel about the whole loving someone who probably doesn't even think about you anymore."

"I'm sure he thinks about me from time to time…what's your name, by the way?"

"I'm Sam, just Sam, never call me Samantha. If you don't call me Samantha, you stand a better chance of making it out alive and not having me pummel you, possibly turning you into that dumb airheaded chick, Shannon." The girl laughed and Jake rolled his eyes, that sounded like something Sam might say.

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind. Well, it's good to meet you, Sam. My name is Susie." Jake's eyes shot open and he stared at Susie, he slowly shook his head and wondered if it was just some crazy coincidence.

"Well, it's good to meet you Susie." Sam shook the girl's hand and turned to the front, not expecting to talk much to the girl throughout the year, anyway. Susie turned toward the front and Jake continued to stare at her, pondering if she was really the girl that Freddie once dated.

_"This can't end well,"_ Jake thought while slowly turning back to the front. He frowned and kept his eyes glued to the board as Mrs. Briggs walked to the front of the room. His mind was definitely not going to be on class, that much was known.

* * *

Ooh, Susie's here! In case you didn't notice from the title, this was showing all the girls that Freddie had/does like or that liked him. From Valerie to Susie. Also, I think it's clear that the girl that kept passing Freddie and them never seeing each other, the one with Valerie, was Susie.


	4. New Transfers

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 4 (New Transfers)

Jake and Jonah both had a free spot on their last period, meaning instead of five, they only had four classes. So they would sometimes spend their last period going to the gymnasium in order to talk to Freddie, since nobody else they knew had a period off, nor could they visit any of their other friends during the time.

They walked toward the gymnasium and glanced toward the doors of a classroom, they saw Susie standing in the front of the classroom, talking about something. Jake saw it was the classroom of the teacher that always made students introduce themselves in class, he winced when he figured it would probably be embarrassing for the girl. Jake hadn't told Jonah who she was, and he wasn't sure how he could tell Freddie, it was going to be a major shock to him. Of course, he would find a way to tell Freddie, there was no way around that, it had to be done.

Upon arriving to the gym, they saw the class doing some exercises, Freddie was once more the best. Everything just seemed natural to him, it was because of his gym teacher four years ago. The gym teacher smiled as Jake and Jonah walked in, they smiled back and sat down in the bleachers. The teacher had the class start running laps around the gym and Freddie was the fastest runner there. Upon finishing, Freddie ran over to the pull up bar and began working out on the pull-ups, getting ten pull-ups done in a matter of fifteen seconds.

"Damn, he's better than he used to be," A voice said from behind. Jake and Jonah nearly jumped up in shock, but they did not, instead they remained calm. They looked back and saw a dark hared male watching Freddie run around, they didn't know who he was or how he knew Freddie, so they thought they would ask. The boy looked to them as they started to move up the bleachers toward him, he crossed his arms and leaned back slightly.

"So, who are you?" Jonah asked while sitting next to the stranger.

"Yeah, and how do you know Freddie?" Jake asked.

"Freddie…is that his name?" The person asked while raising his eyebrow. "Back at Hamm Lake, he used to be Roland Waffle. I wonder why he went so far as to change his name…" Jake and Jonah both froze slightly and looked toward each other, they couldn't believe someone else was here. "So, who are you two? I'm Champ, by the way…though it's more of my nickname. My real name is Ricky, but I like Champ a lot better."

"Champ…" Jake blinked and looked toward Freddie, trying to remember when Freddie mentioned him. Then he remembered, Champ was one of the three that picked on him. They even asked the teacher if they could put pirated DVDs in his locker in order to expel him. Jake quickly stood up and glared at Champ. "You, you're the one who tried to get Freddie expelled at his old school!" Champ blinked and chuckled lightly, he could see that he might have to defend himself. "We're Freddie's best friends, so if you mess with him, then you have to go through us." Jake narrowed his eyes and Jonah let out a small sigh. He didn't really care about the past, since it seemed like Champ wasn't out to cause harm.

"You got me all wrong there…true, we thought he was a dork."

"Well, yeah, he kind of is," Jonah said while smirking and slowly standing up. "However, he is our best friend. I'm Jonah, and this guy here is Jake."

"It's good to meet you. I'm a former student of Hamm Lake, and also, I was the best athlete in my class. Of course, it looks like Ro-"

"Freddie," Jake said while keeping his eyes narrow. Champ chuckled and nodded his head.

"It seems like _Freddie_ is better than I was. I don't remember being able to do pull-ups so quickly." Champ crossed his arms and watched as Freddie started doing pushups with the rest of the class. "I remember when Morgan, Derek, and I had to help the gym teacher train him. He didn't have an athletic bone in his body. In fact, when he ran up the stairs, we had to help push him." Jake and Jonah raised their eyebrows and glanced toward Freddie, he had finished the pushups and was now working on the sit-ups, while several others were still doing their pushups.

"Yeah, I guess he's grown a lot," Jonah said while shrugging. "I mean, he can do quite a bit." Jonah looked over at Champ and crossed his arms, wondering what the guy was doing there in the first place. "So, why are you here? Not only in school, why are you here in this gymnasium?"

"Well…just cause…" Champ's face grew hard and he closed his eyes, not wanting to think too much about all the reasons that he was here. "This was one of the few schools that extended its arms out to Hamm Lake, taking in the students and teachers."

"What?" The two stared at Champ in silence, wondering what he was talking about.

"Keep in mind that Hamm Lake was actually joined with the high school as well, which is why I can say that I come from Hamm Lake, yet was there four years ago. So no, I was not held back. As for the school…" Champ shifted his eyes to the side and shrugged. "Well, I just don't go there anymore. I couldn't decide on a fifth period, so I'm just catching snippets of each class subject. I still like gym the best, since I am still a star athlete. I also want to see just how strong Freddie is…"

"So, you might actually take your fifth period here?" Jake asked while raising his eyebrow. "Do you realize how much Freddie would probably freak out?" Champ thought for a minute and smirked, he knew very well that Freddie would probably freak. So, he was definitely going to have fun in the class. "By the way, would any others from Hamm Lake be here?" Champ blinked and thought for a minute, he nodded his head and smiled.

"Well, of all the schools she could have chosen to go to, Morgan is here as well. She used to date Derek, and now, Derek…well…" Champ shrugged his shoulders and looked away, causing Jake and Jonah to glance at each other with added confusion. "Morgan chose to come here because we were good friends."

"Did any _teachers_ transfer over here?" Jonah asked. His tone of voice was slightly excited, he thought maybe Freddie's favorite teacher might have transferred to the school. "Like Mr. Stewie, for example?" Champ's face paled and he quickly shifted his eyes toward the side while slowly standing up.

"No, Mr. Stewie didn't come here. Why would you ask, do you know him?"

"He's Freddie's favorite teacher," Jake replied. Champ smiled and nodded, he could agree with that. Since Mr. Stewie taught Freddie so much, and gave him backbone. "So, we thought if students and teachers were transferring here for some strange reason, then he might have chosen to come here. How many schools invited students?"

"Only around six schools, including this one…this is the furthest school to accept students. The ones who transferred here did so because it was the best in condition and so forth. Parents didn't mind moving here." Champ watched as the class began to throw dodgeballs, Freddie was doing pretty well.

"Hey Champ, when gym's over, we're all going to the park and to the weight gym. Freddie's going to be with us, so if you want to talk to him, it'd be a good idea to come by." Champ smiled and looked toward Jake, he crossed his arms and shrugged his shoulders.

"I'll think about it, I might show up. Hell, I may even get Morgan to come…if she's up to it…" Champ turned his head toward the ground and his face became hard. The other two were not sure what to make of it.

"Exactly what happened to your school?" Jonah asked in a quiet voice. Champ merely shrugged his shoulders. "Not only that, but what happened to Mr. Stewie?" There were many questions that could have been asked, but none of them seemed like they were going to be answered. "We heard that this school was accepting some transfers from another school, but what happened to it?" Champ crossed his arms and shrugged as he glanced at the clock on the wall. The guys thought they saw what looked like a tear leaving his eye. He quickly wiped his face and started to step off of the bleachers.

"I have to go and continue exploring other classes, maybe I'll see you guys around." With that, he left, leaving Jake and Jonah confused and without any answers whatsoever. They went back to watching the class, and waited until everything was over. Freddie walked over to them and grinned.

"Hey guys, what do you say we go to the park first?" Freddie asked while smirking. He really wanted to climb that rope, there was no question about it. "If you have a timer, we can time each other and see who has the fastest time."

"That sounds like a good plan," Jake responded. Freddie nodded and walked toward the exit doors, his friends soon followed after him. They were not sure how to tell Freddie that both Champ and Morgan were there, and Jake was still not sure how to bring up Susie. Of course, they would have to tell him somehow. When leaving, they looked over to see Valerie talking to another brunette, but it wasn't the same one as she had been talking to during the morning. Of course, on the back of the girl's shirt was the name "Morgan." The girl actually seemed a bit sad about something, just like Champ had been.

* * *

Morgan and Champ, definitely not OCs, they are part of the movie. It appears they transferred for some reason that we do not know. Well, I know, you don't, so stick around and find out! I hope you liked this chapter.


	5. Surprises

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 5 (Surprises)

Freddie, Jake, and Jonah made it to the park, they saw nobody else running through the obstacle course, so they had it all to themselves. It was like a paradise, it had hurdles, beams, ropes, and almost every obstacle someone could want. 'Okay, so who's going first?" Freddie asked while looking hungrily at the course. "Damn, if Mr. Stewie could see this, he'd probably be begging to go through this…"

"You should go first," Jake said while smiling softly. He thought it was appropriate for him to go first, since Freddie was going to be learning a major surprise soon, once Jake figured out how to tell him. Freddie nodded and Jonah lifted up a timer, to see how fast Freddie ran through the course. Freddie started with the hurdles and jumped over them. He jumped a total of five hurdles in a few seconds. Then he came up on a tunnel and started to make his way through.

Once he made it out of the tunnel, he turned and ran toward a fence. He grabbed the top of it and vaulted over the fence, then he reached a low wall and vaulted over it. He continued running and made it to a log that was bolted on the ground over a small hole, he quickly got on the wall and made his way across in eight seconds. He then ran toward a beam that was positioned at the top of two poles. He climbed onto a box and jumped up, grabbing the beam with his hands. He then carefully made his way to the other side. Finally he made his way onto a cargo net and climbed onto the top of a platform, ending his run.

"Hey, that was great!" Jonah called out. "You finished the course in just twenty two seconds." Freddie crossed his arms and smiled, glad that he did so well.

"That's great, then," Freddie responded. "Next time, I'll do better, though!"

"Yeah, I bet, now we're going to do a run through." Freddie nodded and got off of the platform, he walked over to Jonah and took the timer.

"I'll time you guys, who's first?" Jonah raised his hand up and took off as Freddie started the clock. Jonah finished at twenty five seconds. Jake was next, he did a quick run through, but was clocked at thirty seconds. "Awesome job, so who wants to climb that rope?" Freddie looked at the rope and grinned, his friends could see the longing and desire in his eyes. Jake laughed and nodded as the trio moved toward the rope.

"I think I'll go first," Jake said while grinning. Freddie blinked and Jake looked over toward Jonah. "Then Jonah can go and Freddie can be last. It builds up the anticipation, ya know?"

"Ha...well that's fine with me." Freddie held up the timer and Jake grabbed the rope. He started to climb and Freddie started the timer. Freddie looked up and watched Jonah climb the rope, and more he felt the desire to climb it himself. Soon Jake was down, it took him fifty seconds to climb the rope. Jonah was up next, and Jake took the timer and began timing him. Jonah finished in forty eight seconds. "I guess I'm next." Jonah nodded and Jake crossed his arms while standing next to the rope.

"Good luck." Freddie nodded and placed his hands on the rope. Soon the memories entered his mind. Memories of his old school, his old life, the competition, and more importantly, his favorite teacher played fluently into his mind. He placed his feet on the rope and started to climb it. The cheers from the crowd at the competition played through his head, causing him to go faster. "Go Freddie! You're doing great!" Freddie smiled as his friends cheered for him. Soon another voice was added, it was a familiar voice, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"Yeah, you go, Roland!" A female voice exclaimed. Freddie's eyes widened and he shouted as he let go of the rope.

"Oh crap, Freddie!" Freddie hit something, but it wasn't the ground. He wasn't too injured, he probably only fell about five to ten feet. He heard Jake groan and he looked down. "Freddie, _please_ get off of me." Freddie nodded and slowly got up, with the help of Jonah. The two then helped Jake to his feet and dusted him off. "I'm _so_ glad I didn't just break anything…at least I _hope_ I didn't."

"Sorry about that," Freddie responded. His eyes darted to the side, looking for the person that called him by his last name. Jake groaned slightly and rubbed his back.

"Behind you, Freddie…"

"Behind…" Freddie turned around and his eyes widened in shock, Morgan and Champ were standing before him. "I'm hallucinating, right? The fall made me hallucinate…I was already seeing visions and hearing cheers, so this is a hallucination. You two _can't_ be here! You can't be real!" Champ just stared back at him and Morgan winced slightly, appearing hurt by Freddie's words.

"Is that any way to treat old friends?" Champ asked while crossing his arms. He smirked and tilted his head to the side. "I think a simple 'hello' would have sufficed."

"Hello, and _what_ are you doing here!" Champ rolled his eyes and shifted his eyes toward the side.

"We transferred here…what else?" Freddie took a slight step back and chuckled nervously.

"I hope you're not following me…"

"Oh come off it!" Morgan exclaimed. Freddie looked shocked, seeing her angry. When he looked at her, she appeared to be greatly stressed. "You don't know anything, you don't know what the hell happened! We transferred here because it was the best out of the schools that offered!"

"Relax, Morgan," Champ said while placing his hand on her shoulder. Freddie's eyes were wide and surprised at her outburst. She looked like she had tears in her eyes, it was a strange gesture.

"I-I'm sorry, it's just that this is a major shock," Freddie responded in a quiet voice. "I just never expected to see you. I mean, you're like an old memory to me. You're usually only supposed to appear in my dreams. I am truly sorry." Morgan's face softened slightly and she smiled at him.

"its okay, Roland, I shouldn't have blown up at you either. I mean, you don't know what happened…and some things are just…"

"I go by Freddie, by the way." Freddie raised his eyebrow and looked at Champ and Morgan, Derek was missing. "Um, where is Derek, anyway?" Morgan closed her eyes and clenched her teeth together, obviously recalling a painful memory.

"You know, Mr. Stewie is probably very proud of you," Champ said while looking at the rope. "You seem to have grown stronger since we last saw you. I bet he's smiling with pride right now." Freddie smiled and nodded his head.

"Yeah, you're probably right, I bet he…" Freddie blinked and his mouth opened slightly. He slowly shook his head and stared at the two. "Wait, why are you talking like that? What happened to Mr. Stewie? Also, what happened to Derek? Why did you guys transfer here!" Freddie's voice started to become panicky, he feared the response. Champ closed his eyes and groaned slightly, feeling as though he might throw up. Morgan sighed and looked upwards.

"You deserve to know," Morgan stated. Champ quickly looked at her, not sure if she should really tell him. She looked at him and nodded. "He needs to know, it's important." Morgan looked to Freddie and stared into his eyes. "Freddie, Mr. Stewie is…dead." Jake and Jonah stared at her with wide eyes and Freddie continued to gaze at her, not wanting to believe what he had just heard.

"No…no, I won't believe it. You're joking, you have to be joking!"

"I'm not…" Morgan lowered her hands and stared at the ground. "I wish I was, but I would never joke about something so serious."

"Please, dear god, tell me this is all just a cruel prank…Mr. Stewie can't die!"

"He's gone," Champ said, his voice gruff and serious. "So is Hamm Lake." Freddie's eyes widened in shock and his friends quickly stepped next to him, in case they needed to assist him in some way. "A lot of people survived, but Mr. Stewie was one of the few that didn't make it." Morgan nodded and looked toward the ground.

"If not for Derek, I would have died," Morgan said in a quiet voice. "If not for Mr. Stewie…Susie might have perished as well."

"What! What are you talking about?" Freddie cried out. Morgan closed her eyes while Champ glanced to the side, it was still hard for them to talk about it.

"You will probably want to sit down." Freddie nodded as he and the others moved to a nearby picnic table. They all sat down at the table and Morgan merely cupped her hands together, placing them on the table and staring at them. "I guess I'll tell you what happened to the school, and why we're here. Help me out, Champ…especially with Derek." Champ nodded and rubbed her back, giving her as much comfort as she needed. Freddie and his friends looked at them with interest, listening well as they begun to explain what had become of the great Hamm Lake.

* * *

So, we'll know what happened in the next chapter. Also, Freddie may meet Susie.


	6. Inferno

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

A/N: This chapter is part flashback, just to let you know. Freddie will be called Roland, here.

* * *

Chapter 6 (Inferno)

Morgan, Champ, and Derek all walked into the gym class, their teacher was once again Mr. Stewie. He had been booted up to teach high school gym. Champ and Derek rushed over to talk to Mr. Stewie, while Morgan surveyed her classmates, looking to see any familiar face. Her eyes stopped on a girl she knew, it was Susie.

She then walked over to Susie and sat next to her, seeing the girl was apparently deep in thought. "Hey Susie, I hope I'm not interrupting anything," Morgan said with a smile. Susie blinked and looked up, smiling at Morgan.

"Nah, I was just thinking about some random stuff," Susie responded. Morgan tilted her head and watched as Susie ran her fingers across the gym bleachers. "I really do miss Roland. I bet he's moved on by now, I would hope so, really." Morgan crossed her arms and leaned back, shrugging in response to Susie's statement. Susie lifted her eyes up and glanced toward the ceiling, still thinking about Roland. "You don't think he's forgotten about me, do you?" Morgan raised her eyebrow and slowly shook her head, she wasn't sure that Roland would forget her so quickly. Susie took her backpack and pulled a small, rectangular box out. She opened the box and took a necklace out, placing it around her neck. "I try never to forget that, because it's something that he gave to me." Morgan smiled and patted Susie on the back.

"I think he would be an idiot if he forgot about you so quickly, it's only been a few years. So, maybe he moved on…at least I'm sure he didn't forget you. You were his first love, and you guys shared your first kiss." Morgan pointed to the necklace and smiled. "Also, I think this is a very beautiful necklace. Did he get that for you before he left?" Susie nodded and Morgan simply turned her head to look at the boys. "That's good, so I see he left you something to remember him by." Susie smiled and slowly stood up.

"Yeah…let's go down to where the others are, it looks like Mr. Stewie is ready to start class." Morgan glanced at the teacher and saw him signaling the girls, she chuckled lightly and stood up. "Morgan, isn't it funny how we got Mr. Stewie for gym again? Well, you at least, I wasn't really in his class back then." Morgan paused for a minute, thinking about the older days. She smirked and shook her head while shrug, she and several others had honestly considered Susie to be part of the class.

"You were there to cheer on Roland when he was in the competition with us; you went everywhere that the class did, so you were as much of a classmate as you are now. By my standards, and I believe everyone else." Susie smiled and nodded her head, feeling more accepted into the class than what she felt before. The girls walked toward the class and waited instruction. Mr. Stewie had everyone sit in rows and began taking roll. Susie sat in front of a student that she had never seen before, he was sort of scruffy faced and had a strong looking build. She thought he had something in his left hand, but made no notice of it.

Soon, the lessons had begun, and everyone started to do their warm-ups. The person behind Susie quickly growled and grabbed her arm with his hand. "Ouch!" Susie screamed out and everyone turned to look at her. "Hey, let go!" Susie pulled at her arm, but he did not release her. The person then pulled a gun from his pocket, silencing Susie and the rest of the class. "What are you doing!" Susie began to grow fearful and the rest of the class stood in place, wondering what they could do.

"My name is Terrance, and I'm one member of the group that will wipe this school off the map!" The class gasped and Mr. Stewie took a step forward, he had to get Susie away from Terrance. "Don't move, or the girl here will die a lot quicker!" Susie gulped and struggled to get free, but she couldn't, and her arm felt like it was in pain. Morgan growled as she stared the man down, she was afraid, but at that point she did not seem to care at all. "Stop moving!" Terrance pointed the gun toward Mr. Stewie, causing him to stop. "I'm warning you, I will kill this girl if you don't stop. Now, let me tell you my plans…"

"Let her go, bastard!" Morgan shouted. Terrance raised his eyebrow and looked over, Morgan was the closest person to him. She leapt toward him and grabbed the arm that held his gun. "Damn you, let her go!" Terrance growled and started to attempt to shake her off. He finally managed to shake her and kick her to the ground. "Ugh! Didn't your mom ever teach you not to hit girls!" He laughed and pointed his gun toward her.

"You just made your crucial mistake, now you'll be the first to die." Morgan paled and silently gulped, now she was even more fearful than before. "You should learn not to attempt to fight back, especially when it's futile. As we speak, bombs in the school are starting to be set off, we'll be hearing a chain of explosions any second now, and the school will burn to the ground." Morgan gasped lightly and Susie's eyes widened, every other student stood frozen in fear.

"Please, just let me go," Susie pleaded. She wanted to be free, and perhaps one day find Roland.

"Get him!" Mr. Stewie shouted. Terrance looked over as Mr. Stewie and Derek charged him. He yelped as Derek started struggling with the gun, hoping to take it away from him and not risk Morgan's life. Mr. Stewie quickly hit Terrance's arm and pulled Susie to safety. The rest of the class watched in fear as Derek struggled with the gunman. Morgan shook her head, not wanting to lose Derek. She quickly got up and started shouting for Derek to be careful.

"I know what I'm doing, and I'm not going to lose you," Derek said in a quick voice. Terrance smirked and looked upwards, he knew there was a bomb in the ceiling, and all he had to do to set it off was to shoot it. "Damn you, what are you looking at?"

"Oh nothing," Terrance responded. He clicked the gun and fired a shot out, Derek gasped as the bullet went through his chest and out his back.

"Derek!" Morgan screeched as he feel to the ground. "Derek! No! Please, no, you can't die!" Morgan knelt down beside Derek and he opened his eyes, looking into hers.

"I'm okay," Derek said while letting the blood seep through. He quickly pulled Morgan toward the ground and covered her as the explosions started to shake the school. The students all panicked and started running around while Mr. Stewie attempted to calm them. Morgan had no choice but to stare at Derek's pained expression as debris hit him and his body started to burn. "You're going to be okay, Morgan."

"Me? What about you!" Derek smiled at her and quickly kissed her lips, taking her by surprise.

"I love you, babe. I'm not going to let you die. You're going to survive, even if it kills me."

"What!" Just then a pole shot into Derek's back and out his chest. Morgan's eyes widened as the pole landed in the ground, just next to her neck. She whimpered as Derek made a groaning sound and gave his final breath. "Derek…"

"Come on, we have to go!" Champ exclaimed as he quickly pulled Morgan out from underneath his deceased friend. He pulled Morgan up and frowned as he gazed into her eyes. "I'm sorry…look, there's no time right now, we have to get you out of here."

"I don't want to leave him, I _can't_ leave him!"

"I'm not losing another friend." Champ grabbed Morgan's wrist and pulled her away from the area, dodging a part of the ceiling that would have crushed the girl. The two looked over to see Terrance lying on the ground, they were not sure just what killed him, but they were glad that he wasn't a threat. "Mr. Stewie is ordering everyone out the window."

"Help me!" Susie exclaimed. "I'm stuck!" Champ and Morgan looked over to see Susie on the ground, a part of the wall had fallen on her, pinning her underneath. Mr. Stewie ran over to her, his body aching from burns and wounds he received from the fire that now engulfed the gym.

"Morgan, go out those windows now, I'm going to help Mr. Stewie get her out." Morgan stared at Champ, tears streaking her face. She didn't want to leave him, fearing that she might lose him as well. He clenched his teeth together and pointed toward the window. "Go! Get out of here!" Champ ran off and another student grabbed Morgan, pulling her out of the gymnasium. Champ made it to Mr. Stewie and the two men gripped the wall that held Susie underneath. "We're going to get you out of here."

"Just relax," Mr. Stewie said while letting out a sigh. "Take a deep breath, and we'll get this wall off of you." Susie nodded and held her breath. The two men grunted as they picked the wall up, fortunately, it didn't seem to do much damage to Susie. She quickly crawled away and slowly stood up. Champ took a rag and placed it over Susie's mouth.

"Come on, we have to get you out of here." Susie nodded and glanced over at Mr. Stewie, he was checking to see if anyone was left. Champ started to lead Susie out of the gym when they heard a loud scream. They looked over and their eyes widened in shock, the wall had collapsed and Mr. Stewie was trapped in a blazing inferno. Champ wanted to go help, but he couldn't, the fire was starting to cause him to pass out. He felt Susie clasp his waist and start walking with him out of the gym.

"We needed to get out of there," Susie said once they exited the gym. Morgan saw them and quickly ran toward the two, wrapping her arms around her friends and sobbing with them. They looked back to see the school collapsing, the explosions had destroyed it.

_-End flashback-_

Freddie stared in shock, he couldn't believe a word that he had just heard, but it came from the mouths of two people who never lied. Morgan rested her arms on the table and buried her head into her arms, sobbing. Champ sighed and rubbed her back, trying to provide comfort for her. "Later we found out that out of five hundred students and forty teachers, there were a total of twenty that died," Champ said in a quiet voice. "I had the daunting task of identifying Derek's body as well as Mr. Stewie."

"I only saw Derek's body," Morgan said while lifting her head up. "Champ didn't want me to see Mr. Stewie, since he identified both first." Champ shook slightly and held his stomach.

"Mr. Stewie's body was hard to recognize, he had been burnt so badly. The school was such a small school and so few died from it, that the media didn't even bother to cover it for more than a day or two."

"Mr. Stewie is dead," Freddie said in a shocked tone of voice. His hero had died while saving Susie. He didn't want to believe it, but he had to accept it. His eyes shot open and he quickly stood up, surprising Jake and Jonah. "What happened to Susie? Where is she! Is she okay?"

"Susie is fine," Morgan stated in a calm voice. "She transferred to one of the few schools that offered. I'm not sure where it was, to be perfectly honest." Jake shifted his eyes to the side and slowly stood up, he figured now was the time to tell Freddie that Susie was at their school. Of course, he wouldn't get that chance.

"Hey Dork, what are you doing here?" A voice called out. It was Sam, apparently she found them. He looked over to see not only Sam, but another girl with her. That girl was Susie.

"Susie!" Freddie exclaimed. Everyone raised their eyebrows as Freddie ran toward Susie and wrapped her arms around her in a hug. The action took Sam by surprise, as she didn't expect Freddie to know the girl.

* * *

Some advice, remember this memory, it _could_ be important in the future. Freddie and Susie have finally met as well, let's see what happens in the next chapter.


	7. Freddie's Dilemma

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 7 (Freddie's Dilemma)

Champ and Morgan stood up from the table while Jake and Jonah turned and looked toward Freddie. Sam merely continued to stare at him with shock and confusion. Freddie placed his hands on Susie's arms and made sure to get a good look at her, making sure to believe it was really her and he wasn't going crazy. "Roland, I can't believe you're really here," Susie said in a quiet voice. She was shocked as well.

"Actually, my name is Freddie now." Susie blinked and nodded in understanding. Sam shifted her eyes toward Freddie and narrowed them, she wanted to know how they knew each other. Freddie shifted his eyes toward Sam and then past her, seeing Carly walking toward them. He mentally cursed and lowered his arms, knowing his secret was out. _"Well, I can still take this opportunity to run…I can probably outrun Champ by now."_ Freddie looked over at Champ and sighed. _"Help me. Somebody please help me."_

"Freddie, do you know who she is?" Carly asked as she stepped next to Sam. She looked over at Sam and gave her a disapproving look. "Don't run off like that!"

"What are you, my mother?" Sam asked while glaring at Carly and scowling. Susie looked over to see Valerie jogging toward her.

"Susie, I found you!" Valerie said while huffing. "You thought you saw someone familiar and ran off…why did you do that?" Freddie figured there was no way around it now, everybody was going to know about his past life, the life that he had wanted to keep hidden and not think much about.

_"Okay, I can always run away. Let's see here, there's Sam, Susie, Carly, Valerie…crap, crap, CRAP!"_ Jonah and Jake placed their hands on Freddie's shoulders, seeing the distressed look in his eyes. He really didn't want to tell anyone about his past life. Sam was going to laugh at him constantly, and he wouldn't have a chance with her. Not only that, but Susie was there, adding to the confusion. "I need a moment." With that, Freddie took off in a run.

"Freddie! Hold on!" Jake exclaimed. Everyone watched as Freddie ran off, all of them stared with confused looks on their faces.

"I'll catch up with him," Champ said while breathing out a sigh. He quickly ran after Freddie, slowly, but still gaining on him. He saw Freddie jump over some items and dodge a few trees before stopping near a lake. Freddie looked back and Champ quickly hid from him. Freddie then lifted his head up toward the sky and let out a large shout. Champ took a moment to catch his breath and walk out of hiding. He walked up behind Freddie and tapped his shoulder, causing him to jump in shock.

"Great, you followed me..." Freddie's tone was flat and his eyes narrow.

"Damn, you got faster." Freddie rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"What do you want?" Champ sighed and folded his arms over his chest, he wasn't sure what he was going to say. "If you must know, I'm kind of caught in the middle of a hard place here. I just need some time to think about things." Champ tilted his head to the side and shrugged his shoulders.

"Do you mind talking about what's on your mind?" Freddie raised his eyebrow and stared at Champ, unsure if he really wanted to be talking to him about anything. He shrugged and looked out toward the lake.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do, of course. I have all these weird girls back at school that seem to always want my attention, then there's the girl that I really like, and now…" Champ thought for a moment and glanced back to where the others were.

"Would one of those girls happen to be back there?"

"Yes. Not only that, only Jake and Jonah know about my past. I kept it well hidden…or tried to. Now, every one of my friends will know about it."

"What's wrong with your past?" Champ narrowed his eyes and kept his arms crossed over. "Do you have something against it?" Freddie shook his head and chuckled lightly.

"Let me put it bluntly, my friend Sam would rip on me even more if she knew that my name was once _Roland_ and I was an even bigger dork than I am today." Champ raised his eyebrow and Freddie let out a small sigh. "Then there's Carly, the girl that looked like Susie…"

"Hmm, tell me more about Carly." Freddie raised his eyebrow and Champ smirked, looking amused with Freddie.

"Carly's a nice girl, I guess…she reminds me a lot of Susie, that's sort of why I became infatuated with her. I stopped liking her after some time, though. Then I dated Valerie, we broke up, and I'm single."

"So you _have_ dated since you broke up with Susie." Freddie moaned slightly and crossed his arms, he didn't like to use the breakup term. They really just separated, it wouldn't have worked out.

"Well in a way…I mean, it was a very short timeframe. I didn't want anyone to know that I dated someone before, or that I was once a major geek that wore a dorky little helmet that lit up."

"You know, Susie thought the helmet was nice."

"Yeah, I know that." Freddie looked toward where the others were and groaned slightly, he knew he had to explain to them about everything. "I guess it's not possible to keep some secrets hidden."

"Nah, eventually every secret will be found out by somebody. Maybe it's better this way, instead of it being in a harsh way. I know you know what I mean." Freddie nodded and remembered when he and Mr. Stewie kept his training hidden from his mom. Eventually Mr. Braggs called her up and told her the secret, and she came in order to take him home. Of course, he had the backbone and told her that Mr. Stewie taught him a lot and that the competition meant a lot to him. "You say Jake and Jonah know about it, so they'll be with you step by step. I'll also be here for you, to help if I have to." Freddie smirked and narrowed his eyes as he stared back at Champ.

"You do realize that I'm going to tell them how you guys got people to throw various items at me, right?" Champ laughed and patted Freddie's shoulder, he didn't have a problem with that. "Who _knows_ what Sam's going to do when she learns of it. Actually…she might just laugh." Freddie blinked and pressed his lips together. "Damn." Freddie gave a defeated sigh and slowly walked back toward the others, Champ followed closely behind. _"I still can't believe this."_ When they returned, everybody was sitting at the picnic table in silence, waiting for them to return. "Did you guys ever talk to each other?"

"Well Princess here didn't say much," Sam said while pointing her thumb toward Susie. Susie looked up and away, not sure if she was just insulted. Freddie merely rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Sam…honestly…"

"What?" She didn't want to mention that she was feeling really bad, thinking that Susie was probably someone important to Freddie in the past. _"What if she is, what am I going to do? The mature thing would be to step aside, but I can't just do that. It's not that easy to just deny what my heart tells me…"_ Sam had to know who Susie was, and she wanted to hear it from Freddie. All she knew was Susie, Morgan, and Champ all came from Hamm Lake.

"Freddie!" A voice exclaimed. Champ raised his eyebrow and Freddie paled, the voice belonged to someone he really didn't want to see at the moment.

"Dear god, no, not her, _please_ not her," Freddie said while rubbing his forehead. Jake and Jonah quickly stood up and started to surround him as Shannon and her two friends ran up to him. "Damn it!"

"Freddie! Please date me!" Shannon exclaimed. "You're _so_ hot!" Her friends, Amber and Ashley squealed with her, creating a sound so high pitched and annoying to Freddie's ears. Sam glanced to the side as the girls continued to swoon over him. She sighed and glanced over at Susie, the girl appeared to be hurt as well.

"Okay, this has got to stop," Valerie stated while narrowing her eyes. She slowly stood up and walked over to Shannon, grabbing the girl's hair and pulling the screaming girl away from Freddie. "Okay, listen here, you need to leave." Shannon growled and pulled her hair from Valerie's grip. She glared at Valerie and her two friends joined in the glare.

"What's it to you? Do you still have some sort of crush on him?" Valerie blinked and let a small growl escape her throat.

"No! Why the hell would I have a crush on him? He's my _ex_ boyfriend, anyway!" Susie's eyes widened at the statement and Freddie rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Yeah right, so you know you have no hope in getting him." Freddie rolled his eyes and Valerie started to seethe. "Of course, I guess Carly doesn't either. Since, she isn't interested in him and he had that little 'love' crush on her." Carly glanced to the side, feeling very awkward for some strange reason. Susie blinked once more and Freddie came very close to taking Shannon and tossing her into the lake. He growled and shifted his gaze over to Champ.

"You _see_ what I have to put up with!" Freddie stated, his voice had an angry tone to it.

"Yeah, it doesn't look too fun," Champ responded. Freddie rubbed his forehead and placed his hand on Shannon's shoulder, she gasped and let out a dreamy sigh.

"Freddie Benson is touching me!" Shannon said in a giddy voice. Freddie rolled his eyes and glared at Shannon. She turned around and looked into his eyes. "Such fierce eyes…"

"Ah, just shut the hell up, will you?" Freddie asked while narrowing his eyes. He removed his hand from Shannon's shoulder and walked toward the table. He figured Shannon wasn't going to leave, so now even she was about to figure out about his past. That was a fact that greatly annoyed him. "Okay, it appears I have some explaining to do. So, let me talk, and…Shannon, you just shut up."

"That was a bit rude," Morgan said while smirking. Freddie narrowed his eyes and shrugged it off, he was already irritated enough as it was, Shannon talking would only make matters worse. He felt his throat tighten with frustration as he watched Shannon and her friends start to take a seat at the table. Champ, Jake, and Jonah all stood next to Freddie, since the table was pretty much taken. Freddie looked at the table and saw that Carly, Sam, Valerie, and Susie were all on one side while Morgan, Shannon and her friends were on the other side.

_"Oh, how great, it fits. All the girls I've ever liked on one side, and other girls on the other."_ Freddie took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, getting ready to start talking about his past and how he knew Susie. _"I'm prepared to receive hell from Sam, hearing bitchiness from Shannon, and what _other_ great stuff will happen?"_ He hoped at least that he wouldn't be asked who he was going to give his heart to. He still cared for Sam, but had no clue how Susie felt about him. This was a dilemma alright, and he hated it.

* * *

Well, the next chapter will be Freddie talking about his past, but it won't be a flashback. This is definitely trough on him, and Shannon's even there, ouch. By the way, I'm not sure if anyone has noticed that CARPE DIEM has been updated. I'm going to start alternating between updating my stories, so the two iCarly stories won't be updated at the same time, thus adding to people reading one and not the other and so forth. Again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!


	8. Freddie's Story

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 8 (Freddie's story)

Freddie felt all eyes on him and he slowly took one step back, he leaned toward Champ and started to whisper. "They wouldn't happen to believe in clones and whatnot, do you think?" Champ chuckled lightly and patted Freddie on the shoulder, he truly felt bad for Freddie's situation. Though, at the same time, it was a humorous one to be in.

"Trust me, if even Susie recognizes you as _Roland_, then no, there are no clones," Champ responded. Freddie gave a defeated sigh and shrugged his shoulders.

"I thought not." Freddie crossed his arms over and looked each person in the eyes, he could tell they were eager to here what he had to say. He glanced to the side, trying to figure out where to start. He didn't even know how to bring up the subject of Susie, or if he still loved her. Of course he still cared about her, why wouldn't he? Yet, he also cared for Sam, but how would Susie feel if she knew that? Would she still want to date him? All of his worries and fears seemed to embrace his mind, he couldn't even figure out why this had to be happening to him. Again, he still had no clue where to begin, perhaps it was best to begin from the very beginning. Since Susie called him Roland earlier and Sam didn't say anything, he figured she didn't hear the name. "Alright, so I'll start out with this. Four years ago, there was this kid named Roland Waffle, he was a huge, nonathletic dork."

"Roland Waffle, what kind of name is that?" Carly asked while twisting her face. Freddie raised his eyebrow and saw that Sam remained silent. Susie glanced over at Carly and frowned as Carly shrugged her shoulders and crossed her arms. "It's still a weird name…" Freddie looked over at Jake and Jonah, they shrugged and he looked back toward the others, shocked that Sam still didn't say anything at all. "I'm sorry, just continue with the story, Freddie." Carly did look apologetic, she didn't mean to interrupt. "I'm interested, really I am!"

"Yeah, we want to hear more of this," Sam responded. "Actually, the name makes me hungry…" Freddie chuckled lightly and nodded his head.

"Yeah, the guy's name had that affect," Freddie said while crossing his arms and smirking. "Anyway, he lived with his crazy and overprotective mom, Mrs. Winnie Bleeker. She made him wear a _helmet_ for crying out loud. That helmet was ugly, I'll tell you that." Susie tilted her head to the side and rubbed her lips together, she actually thought the helmet Freddie wore was nice.

"A lot of girls probably thought it was cute," Morgan responded as she placed her elbow on the table and her hand to her face. "Susie did, and hell, even I thought it was a nice looking helmet." Freddie raised his eyebrow and shrugged his shoulders.

"Fine then, I guess it was an okay helmet. Well, the second he transferred, he was subject to people picking on him. The first ever to do so were three people in particular." Freddie saw Champ and Morgan glance toward the ground with guilty expressions on their faces.

"Mostly it was the guys…"

"Roland meets this amazing and cute girl on the first day of school, she actually is the one to initiate conversation." Sam felt her heart jump slightly, since she was starting to suspect Freddie to be Roland. "Well on that first day, nothing happened. He went to gym and soon met possibly the greatest mentor ever known, Mr. Dave Stewie." Champ, Morgan and Susie all smiled at the man's name, they could agree that he was a great man. "They were participating in a gym teacher competition in the gym, and Roland had to participate. The only problem was, he wasn't athletic at all."

"You got that right," Champ said while smirking. Freddie rolled his eyes and slowly shook his head.

"Anyway, the coach didn't seem all that thrilled about Roland, and neither did the three students mentioned." Freddie narrowed his eyes and glared at Champ. "Seriously…_pirated DVDs_?!" Champ chuckled nervously and shook his hands in the air in defense.

"It wasn't _my_ idea!" Freddie sighed and slowly shook his head, not really caring anymore.

"The coach started dating Roland's mom, and then he decided to start training him. That was the hard part…in fact, Roland's greatest challenge was the climbing rope." Freddie looked over at the rope climb that stood in the distance, once more he yearned to climb it.

"I bet you could climb it, Freddie," Shannon said while giving a dreamy sigh. "You're so big and strong, you could climb the rope with ease. Maybe I'd let you carry me on your shoulders…" Freddie winced at the statement, feeling slightly sick and disturbed. Sam and Susie both glared at Shannon with a look of bitter disgust, while the others all stared at Shannon as if she were the biggest idiot on earth. Of course, her two friends didn't make her look any smarter.

"Did he not ask you to shut up?" Valerie asked while staring the girl down.

"Oh whatever…why are you even talking? It's not like anyone wants to hear you talk."

"Hey, cut that out!" Jonah exclaimed. Shannon and Valerie both looked over at Jonah in shock, usually calm, he seemed oddly angered at the moment. "What is your problem with Valerie? Stop talking to her like that! How about instead of acting like a raving bitch, you just shut the hell up and let Freddie continue his story? Also, leave Valerie the hell alone!" Shannon huffed and crossed her arms as Valerie continued to gaze at Jonah, a blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Okay, I'm going to continue now," Freddie said while giving a soft sigh. Everyone nodded and looked at him with interest, eager to hear more. "Roland started to hang out with this girl, and they shared a common interest…a science fiction comic book series. They started talking about it one day and she told him about the end of one book and the two kissed." Susie blushed while recalling the memory and Morgan looked at her while making an 'aw' sound. Sam paused and stared at the table, her stomach started to feel empty. She was really starting to hope Roland wasn't Freddie.

"So, about the competition, what happened next?" Sam asked while holding her tears in. Valerie glanced over at her friend and frowned, she could tell Sam was hurting over Freddie. Constantly Sam would tell her about Carly, and about Shannon, and how she wished that the girls would just leave Freddie alone so he could see her for who she really is.

"Roland ended up gaining some backbone and told his mom just how important the competition was, and how Mr. Stewie helped him to learn so many things, including living life without that damned helmet. Eventually, the competition was won, and the group returned home. Roland became a hero to his class, and everyone respected him."

"Yeah, and isn't that how it always was?" Champ asked while grinning. "You see, I knew Roland would become great from the start!" Morgan walked over to Champ, lifted her hand, and whacked him on the side of the head. He winced and clutched his head in pain. "What was that for!"

"Don't lie to him!" Morgan said in a quick voice. Freddie chuckled lightly and slowly shook his head as Morgan returned to her seat.

"Mr. Stewie wanted to marry Roland's mom," Freddie started out. Soon the talking silenced and Freddie's face grew hard. Sam was concerned for him and Susie was sad for what she knew was coming. "On the night he was going to propose…they went on a walk, to see the stars." Freddie's voice cracked slightly and he quickly shrugged it off. "Mr. Braggs, the losing gym teacher, had become so distraught that he turned to drinking. He claimed to be drunk that night, but he was aware enough to confess that he was aiming for Mr. Stewie…instead, he hit Roland's mother, killing her."

"Oh my god," Sam said in a quiet voice. She didn't know what to say, she wanted to tell Freddie that it was okay, she wanted to give him a hug. Yet, she wasn't sure if it was something he wanted her to do. "Freddie, are you…are you Roland?" Sam kept her voice from cracking, since she was pretty sure that he was Roland, anyway.

"Roland Waffle moved to live with his Aunt and Uncle in Seattle, where he changed his name. I now go by Freddie Benson, and only Jake and Jonah ever knew about my past."

"Why didn't you ever tell us?" Carly asked while raising her eyebrow.

"I had my reasons."

"Did you ever want to forget your past, was that it?" Freddie's jaw grew firm while Susie and Morgan froze. Champ remained silent and crossed his arms over. They didn't know if that was the case, but Freddie did change his entire name. Freddie gave a sigh and shook his head.

"Why the hell would I want to do that? I had my middle name changed to honor Mr. Stewie, who was the greatest man that ever lived.

"So, you actually kissed a girl?" Sam asked while looking toward the table and silently swallowing. "I'm guessing she didn't puke after it, right?" Freddie smirked at Sam and tilted his head to the side.

"Of course she didn't puke, and it turned out to be a great kiss."

"Wow, that's amazing, really great for you, dork!" Sam lifted her head and laughed, but it was a miserable attempt, she just couldn't bring herself to insult him. "So, whatever happened to her?" Susie glanced to the side while Morgan and Champ remained silent, not wanting to get involved. Freddie closed his eyes and folded his arms over his chest.

"I moved and we separated, it's been five years since the last time we've seen each other." Sam glanced at Susie from the corner of her eyes, she had a strong feeling that she was Freddie's old girlfriend.

"I see…" Sam slowly stood up and Valerie looked at her with great concern. "Well dork, I have to get home. You see, my mom is going to tell me the result of that thing she's been testing. That, and I need to do some other things." Sam then left the area, silently mourning as her heart started to sink. She still wanted Freddie to love her, but she wasn't sure if that was going to be possible now. Once Sam was sure that no one was around, she fell to her knees and let the tears roll down her cheeks.

* * *

Well, everyone hears it, and Sam seems a bit crushed. We'll see everyone else's reaction in the next chapter. I hope you enjoyed this one, and sorry for the wait, the alerts were down so I didn't want to post till they were up. Also, check out CARPE DIEM, don't forget that one. It's at the part where it starts getting really good.


	9. Catching Up

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 9 (Catching Up)

Freddie looked in the direction Sam had left, he felt really bad and thought it was his fault she left. He was most likely right, and wanted to go after her. Valerie slowly stood up, causing all eyes to look at her. "That's a lot to take in, Freddie," Valerie said while shrugging her shoulders. "I'm fine after hearing it. I'm going to go after Sam."

"Okay, you do that," Freddie replied. Valerie turned around and hurried off in the direction that Sam left, she had a feeling that Sam was really upset over Freddie, and the fact that his old girlfriend was sitting right next to her. She knew very well about Sam's feelings for him, so it was clear that she needed to talk about things. Freddie looked toward the people still at the table and waited for their reactions. It seemed like they weren't being affected at all. "Okay guys, you know who I am…"

"Yeah, but who was the girl?" Carly asked while tilting her head. Shannon nodded and shrugged her shoulders. Freddie's mouth opened slightly, he thought he had made that point rather obvious. Morgan and Champ just rolled their eyes while Susie slowly rubbed the back of her neck. "Freddie, do you mind if I ask you a question?" Freddie shrugged and Carly continued on. "Why did you start with that crush you had on me? That whole thing started about three years ago…" Susie blinked and felt a strange feeling inside of her, but she quickly shrugged it off. Freddie let out a sigh and crossed his arms over.

"It's not a matter of anything, other than I was attached to her memory back then. You just happened to look like her, and I became infatuated with you. As you know, I've not had a crush on you in quite some time." Susie's eyes drifted over to Freddie and connected with his, she had to wonder if he hadn't ever moved on or if he did get over her really quickly. "If you seriously don't know who my first girlfriend was, just take a look to your right." Carly looked over at Susie and her eyes grew large.

"Whoa, and we thought she was gone forever, what is she doing here?"

"We transferred from our old school," Susie stated as she crossed her arms and glanced to the side. "Our school was attacked and now we're here. I was sort of hoping to see Ro…Freddie again if he was here, and I guess he is." Susie smiled at Freddie and he returned her smile. Shannon merely scoffed, earning a glare from Morgan. Of course, Morgan really didn't like Shannon, and she barely even knew her. Carly rubbed her chin and noticed some resemblances between herself and Susie, this caused her eyes to widen in slight shock.

"So, you never really liked me?" Carly asked while looking over at Freddie. He groaned and rubbed the back of his neck, he really didn't want to answer that at the moment. He wasn't sure how to answer any of the questions that people were asking. "Sorry, it's not a good time to ask that, is it?" Freddie slowly shook his head and shifted his eyes toward Susie's arm. He saw a strange marking on her arm and his eyes widened in confusion.

"Susie, what happened to your arm?" Freddie asked. Susie jumped slightly and chuckled nervously as she covered the mark.

"I'd really rather not say right now," Susie said while shifting her eyes downward. Shannon smirked and glared at Susie.

"I bet you're a druggie!" Shannon said while tilting her head back and laughing. Morgan narrowed her eyes and glared at Shannon, ready to attack the girl whenever she got the chance. "Yeah, a druggie that got infected with whatever she injected!" Freddie closed his eyes and growled slightly, not enjoying the moment.

"I am not!" Susie glared at Shannon, but her eyes were not as angry as they were hurt from the proclamation. Shannon smirked and crossed her arms.

"Then tell us what that little mark on your arm is." Susie looked at the scar on her arm, it did look like an injection. "Looks like Freddie won't be paying attention to you, he doesn't like druggies."

"Shannon, cut it out," Freddie said while rubbing his forehead. He was growing angrier by the second.

"I'm not a druggie!" Susie exclaimed. Her hands were clenched and it looked like tears were starting to form. "Leave me alone, you don't know anything."

"I know a drug abuser when I see one," Shannon remarked.

"Seriously, cut it out," Freddie said while giving Shannon a threatening growl.

"It's nothing but a scar that I got from part of the wall that fell on me once before…I don't want to talk about it." Shannon growled and narrowed her eyes.

"Liar," Shannon said in a quiet voice.

"What?" Shannon stood up and pointed toward Susie, glaring at her with angry eyes.

"Liar, you just want Freddie to feel sorry for you! Well it's too bad, because you can't have him a second time. You had him once, and you let him go, so deal with it!"

"No I don't!" Susie stood up and everyone was starting to glare at Shannon. "I can deal with it, just leave me alone!" Shannon growled and leapt over the table, surprising everyone. She grabbed Susie and tackled her to the ground, pulling on her hair. Shannon's two friends quickly leapt over the table and joined her. "Ah! Get off of me!" Freddie's eyes widened and he quickly rushed in to help. Morgan, Jake, and Jonah quickly rushed around as well. Jake and Jonah easily pulled Shannon's two friends off of them, while Morgan grabbed Shannon in an attempt to pull her off of Susie.

"Get the hell off of her, Shannon!" Freddie exclaimed. Shannon screamed as Morgan pulled her off and Freddie helped Susie to her feet and held her close. Freddie glared at Shannon and let out a small growl. "What the _hell_ were you thinking!" Shannon struggled but Morgan managed to hold her down, especially when Champ walked over and helped. Her two friends didn't even bother trying to break from their holders, it just wasn't done. Shannon didn't even bother listening to Freddie, she just glared at Susie and sneered.

"Don't think you're going to win, little Miss Princess," Shannon said while growling. "Freddie already has me on his mind, anyway. I'm the one who holds his heart right now." Freddie scowled and felt Susie stiffen, he hated how Shannon was acting toward her. Morgan merely lifted her hand, clutched Shannon's hair, and pulled it. When she pulled her hair, Shannon let out a loud, pained scream. "What the hell was that for? What did I do!" Freddie had to keep himself from laughing at the sight, Shannon definitely deserved it.

"I just thought I should pull your hair," Morgan said while shrugging.

"Damn you!" Freddie rolled his eyes and glanced toward Susie.

"Hey, come with me," Freddie said, his voice was soft and kind to her ears. "We will need to talk about a few things." Susie nodded and Freddie led her away from the others, ignoring Shannon's screams and protests. Morgan and Champ looked over at Freddie, they wanted to know what he'd been up to in the past four years, but figured he needed to talk to Susie first. Freddie walked to where the lake was and sat down on a bench. "Have a seat, Susie."

"Thanks," Susie responded as she sat next to him. She smiled and looked over at Freddie, he was gazing at the lake and letting the wind breeze through his hair. She looked out toward the lake and closed her eyes as the warm sun bathed her face. _"It's really beautiful here…so nice."_ Susie opened her eyes and looked once more at Freddie, she wasn't sure exactly where to start. She was also wondering if Shannon was going to pop out at her again. "So, Freddie…that's a nice name…" Freddie shifted his eyes over as Susie placed her hands over each other and rested them in her lap. "I guess we've changed a lot."

"Yeah, some things have changed. In the past four years, I've chosen a new name and still live under someone who is overprotective." Susie giggled lightly and Freddie merely smiled at her. It had been so long since he'd seen her, he wasn't sure where to even begin. "Listen, I don't know what to say…I mean, you're probably wondering about those other girls, right?" Susie shrugged and watched as a duck flew to the lake and started swimming. She loved to watch the ducks.

"I guess I wonder about them, but I would have expected you to eventually move on." Freddie sighed and nodded his head, he'd been wanting to do that, but now he wasn't sure if he had to or not Freddie tilted his head back slightly and closed his eyes, he knew he'd have to be completely honest with her.

"Carly Shay and Sam Puckett are my two closest friends around here, as far as female friends go. Jake and Jonah are my closest guy friends." Susie made a tiny gasping sound, she was surprised, since Sam told her that Freddie wasn't anyone important to her.

_"Could it be that Sam was hiding something?"_ Susie thought back to her conversation with Sam, she remembered that Sam had an odd look on her face when Freddie was mentioned and when she said she didn't know him at all. Susie blinked and bit her lower lip, she wondered if Sam did like Freddie. "Freddie, what do you think of Sam? I mean, how do you feel about her?" Freddie raised his eyebrow and looked toward Susie, wondering what she was getting at.

"I would have thought you'd ask about Carly." Freddie chuckled and crossed his arms over, trying to think what to say about Sam. "Sam is interesting. It's not like we like each other as more than friends or anything, we're just close friends. We argue a lot, I guess…it seems more like a game than arguing, though. She's funny in her own way, like when she gives Gibby a wedgie or tries to get him to do whatever she wants him to do. Also, she's got her own special way of doing things…she's unique in her own way, I guess I could say. She tries not to let anything bother her, and I know that despite her tough appearance, she's really soft and fragile."

"Oh?" Susie smiled at Freddie and tilted her head, eager to hear more about Sam.

"Yeah…like, when Jonah and I became friends. I could tell it bothered her a bit, and she tried to hide that fact. It was because Jonah had tried to cheat on her, with _Carly_. She tries to hide it, but I can tell she's upset over the attention Carly gives, and even I'm at fault for that. Despite her ways, Sam is just one of those people, like you, that has a heart of gold." Susie giggled lightly and glanced into Freddie's eyes.

"Thanks. It seems like you've got a lot to say about Sam."

"I hope me talking about her didn't make you feel uncomfortable. I mean, it is another girl, and you just met a bunch of girls that I either liked or they liked me. I'm pretty sure Sam doesn't like me, since we're just friends." Susie shrugged and slowly shook her head, she wasn't feeling uncomfortable at all.

"No, I don't have a problem with it. Tell me a little about Carly, who is she?"

"Carly is…uh…" Freddie glanced out the corner of his eyes, trying to think of something he could say about her. "She's interesting, I'll give you that. She and Sam are the hosts of iCarly, and I'm their tech producer. You should see Sam on that, she's very energetic, more so than Carly!" Susie giggled once more and Freddie paused for a moment. "Yeah, you wanted to know about Carly. She's got a crazy brother." Susie rolled her eyes and smiled, she could see Freddie was struggling a bit with his description of Carly.

"Tell me about when you had that crush on her…" Freddie stopped and looked at Susie, she seemed to be a bit uncomfortable with the subject. Freddie sighed and closed his eyes for a second.

"Listen, I never really moved on from you on that first year. Carly reminded me so much of you, in her looks and sometimes even her actions. So, I became infatuated with Carly…I'm not sure, but I think it bothered Sam a bit, since she was Carly's best friend."

_"I bet it bothered Sam a bit more than you think."_ Susie nodded slightly and frowned for a brief second. "You never really had a crush on her, then? Instead…you were infatuated with my memory…"

"Wait! I didn't mean it like that…" Susie smiled and her shoulders rose up slightly, she didn't really have a problem with it.

"It's been four years, I would think you'd have forgotten about me by now."

"I never really did forget you…"

"Tell me about Valerie, is she really your ex?" Freddie gave a nod and looked guilty of something. Susie smiled and placed her hand over his. "It doesn't bother me that you've dated, okay. Just tell me a little about her, unless you don't want to, I don't have to know."

"She was another person that resembled you in a way, and we dated for about a week. I don't think it means I moved on from you, it's not like I wanted to at that time. We dated only a couple years ago, that was all." Freddie thought for a minute and narrowed his eyes as Shannon entered his mind. "Also, about Shannon, I do _not_ like her. She's obsessed, she's perky, preppy, and not anything that I would like. I'm not too happy with how she treated you, either."

"It's okay, it's not a problem." Freddie frowned and looked at Susie's arm, he saw how red the scar looked. It also looked as though it were a little puffed up.

"You got that scar from when the wall fell on you…Champ and Morgan told me all about it." Susie looked at Freddie with concern, she was going to tell him about Mr. Stewie.

"Freddie, I'm so sorry…Mr. Stewie…he'd be proud of you." Freddie smiled and nodded his head.

"I guess he would be. He's with mom now, and that's where he should be. You know, I'm not going to let it bother me. I'm going to mourn, but I'm not going to let it rule me."

"That's good…" Susie glanced at her arm and then over toward the duck that was bathing in the lake. She closed her eyes and felt tears running down her cheeks. Freddie raised his eyebrows and instantly became concerned, he didn't want her to cry, and he hoped he wasn't the cause for her tears.

"Susie, don't cry, I'm sorry." Susie blinked and raised her eyebrow, she looked over at Freddie with confusion.

"What are you sorry for, these?" Susie quickly wiped her tears and smiled at Freddie. "Don't worry about my tears, its fine. Though…" Susie took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "I think you should move on from me."

"What!" Freddie's eyes were wide and Susie shrugged in response. "Why? I mean…wouldn't you…" Susie lifted her hand and cupped the side of Freddie's face.

"What we had was part of a memory, and a great one. Sure, I'd love to continue it, but I think it's best if you move from my memory."

"Susie…what reason do you have?" He was shaking with confusion, he was more confused now than he was any time before. He didn't know how to answer it, since it seemed similar to when girls say one thing and really mean something else.

"Well…" Susie thought about Sam, and how she wondered if Sam really did like Freddie. She didn't know what to do if that was the case. She took a deep breath and leaned in, whispering into Freddie's ear. His eyes grew wide with shock, anger, and disbelief. Susie leaned back and stared into her eyes.

"What? T-That can't be! It just can't be right…" Susie slowly nodded her head and Freddie quickly stood up. "Then…here's what I'm going to do…" Freddie took Susie's hand and pulled her up, his face was serious and his mouth in a frown. At that moment, Shannon and her friends ran toward them, taking the two by surprise.

"We tried to stop them!" Jake exclaimed as he chased the girls.

"Take this, bitch!" Shannon exclaimed.

"What the hell did you call her?!" Freddie roared while taking a step forward. Shannon stopped and froze under Freddie's angry glare. She took a slight step back as everyone else stopped in place. "You have _no_ _right_ to call her that, you goddamn hypocrite!" The anger rushed through his veins and the fire burned in his eyes. "You think you're so special and so important that I would even care about you? I don't even want to see your face! Hell, the sight of you makes my butt itch. Get the hell out of my sight!"

"Freddie, it's okay, relax," Susie said as she hurried over to him. She placed her hand on his back and started to rub it. "You don't have to worry about me, I can handle anything someone says." Freddie took a deep breath and started to calm down. As for Shannon, she started to cry and ran away from the area. Amber and Ashley quickly ran after her, saying that he didn't mean it.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have flown off the handle like that." Freddie gave Susie a hug and pulled back slightly. "I just don't want anyone talking to you like that, it's not right."

"I'm glad you care…" Freddie smiled at her and Jake swiftly walked over to him.

"Hey, we still haven't seen you climb that rope earlier," Jake said while crossing his arms and smirking. "Do you still want to do that?" Freddie looked at Susie for a moment and watched as a smile formed on her lips, she wanted to see him climb the rope.

"For old time's sake, yeah, I'll climb it," Freddie said while looking from Susie and toward Jake. "Let's go, and this time, I promise not to fall on you!" Jake rolled his eyes and groaned lightly, it would take him some time to recover from that one.

* * *

Well, Freddie got mad, yikes. I wonder what Susie told him. Pay attention to the next few chapters and you may figure it out! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, stick around for the next, we get some interesting happenings then.


	10. Comfort and Celebration

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 10 (Comfort and Celebration)

"Sam? Where are you?" Valerie asked as she hurried through the park. She stopped and looked to her left, hearing a sound coming from that area. She walked through a thicket and some trees, soon coming into an open field where Sam was. Sam was sitting next to a tree and looked genuinely hurt over something. Valerie slowly walked to her and looked down with concern.

"Hey Valerie," Sam responded as she quickly got up and wiped her face. "I don't want anyone to see me like that. I don't cry…" Valerie smiled softly and gave Sam a small hug.

"It's okay to get out of your tough shell every now and then and cry, in fact, it's healthier." Sam shrugged and glanced to the side; Valerie tilted her head slightly and crossed her arms. "Tell me what is on your mind. Are you worried about Susie?" Sam shifted her eyes downward and nodded her head in response.

"It was hard enough dealing with Shannon and her friends, along with thinking that Freddie liked Carly…but at least I could still win his heart eventually. I mean, I did stand some chance, didn't I? Now, his old girlfriend came back, and he loves her, doesn't he?" Valerie frowned and crossed her arms; she had no clue how to answer that. It was clear that he at least cared for Susie, but she wasn't sure if he still loved her or not. Even still, when he had dated her, it was a sign that he was starting to move on.

"I don't know how to answer that for you, it would be best if you were to ask Freddie." Sam shook her head and glanced to the side, she definitely didn't want to do that. Valerie sighed and gently rubbed Sam's back, hoping to provide comfort in any way she could. She knew Sam well; she knew that Sam wasn't going to fight Susie for Freddie's affections. Sam probably wouldn't even want to do what she did with Carly, and that was trying to outdo Carly at everything. "What do you think you're going to do, anyway? I mean, you probably don't want to try and outdo Susie at certain things…and even if she's here, we sill don't know that anything is going to happen.

"Valerie, do you think you could befriend her?" Sam asked while tilting her head to the side. Valerie raised her eyebrow and Sam let out a sigh, already knowing that Valerie had done that. "I mean, she could be a good co host for your webshow. I was sort of wondering if maybe you could do that for her, and give her something to do." Valerie was baffled by Sam's suggestion, it made no sense that Sam would request something for Susie.

"Are you _sure_, or are you just confused? I mean, this girl is the one that _could_ have Freddie's heart. Isn't she like your 'mortal enemy' or something?" Sam chuckled lightly and wiped her eye as she shook her head.

"Not really…I mean, it's something to do for her, yeah, but she is Freddie's girlfriend." Valerie pressed her lips together, forming a thin line and she slowly shook her head.

"She isn't his girlfriend, she's his ex girlfriend. I don't think they're dating, and they probably won't for all we know." Sam merely shrugged and looked to the right.

"Maybe we should go check up on them and see what's going on, I mean I _did_ leave pretty abruptly." Valerie smiled and nodded her head, she figured it'd be a good idea to go tell the others that Sam was okay. "I don't want to give up on him, but I just don't know what's going to happen." Valerie nodded and gave Sam a friendly hug, giving her the comfort she needed.

"It's going to be okay. As your friend, I'm here for you, and Carly is too." Valerie pulled back and smirked, knowing Carly was still back there. "Last I saw of Carly, she was in a state of shock, probably for the fact that Freddie never really liked her as more than a friend." Sam snickered slightly and crossed her arms, at least she didn't have to worry about him liking Carly. Of course, she had always been a bit worried about Shannon, but now that girl was the least of her worries. "Keep in mind that we never know what will happen in the future, it's all just petty assumptions on our part."

"Yeah, that's true." Valerie smiled and the two girls walked back toward where everyone was. They saw Shannon and her friends running past them, Shannon was crying. Sam smirked and crossed her arms. "I don't know what got her. I know I'm not turning into her, I refuse to fight Susie or act like a bitch to her…" Sam looked down and then back up, smiling softly. "She was Freddie's first love, so she deserves his affections just as much as anyone."

"I'm glad you're thinking that way." Valerie gave a subtle nod and tilted her head to the side, she always admired Sam for her good heart. Soon the girls came up to the rope that Freddie had been climbing earlier, he was climbing it now, and everyone was watching him. Valerie and Sam watched with awe as Freddie quickly ascended the long rope. "Wow, that boy is good." Sam smiled lightly and nodded her head in agreement, Freddie never did seem to surprise her, but she was always impressed with the things that he did. Carly glanced over from the group of friends cheering for Freddie and spotted Sam and Valerie, she smiled and quickly walked over to them.

"There's not much to say about what's been going on here," Carly said in a quiet voice. "Shannon flipped and then Freddie flipped, causing her to run away and cry." Sam and Valerie both laughed and Carly smirked while crossing her arms. "Poor girl, she just doesn't know when it is a good time to shut up! Seriously! Sometimes I think she was dropped on her head when she was a baby." Valerie chuckled and Sam merely smiled at Carly. "So, Sam, how are you? You seemed pretty upset earlier, are you going to be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay, thanks Carly," Sam said while giving her friend a hug.

"Are you _sure_?" Carly raised her eyebrow and kept her smile, she knew Sam might still be troubled over Susie and Freddie. Of course, it only made sense that she would be. Carly looked toward the others and then froze slightly, remembering something. "Sam! Don't we have to meet your mom at the Diner to celebrate the success of her project?" Sam slapped her forehead and Valerie checked her watch, they had forgotten about that. Carly looked over at Valerie and seemed like she was about to panic. "How late are we?"

"We won't be late at all if we leave now," Valerie responded while lowering her arm. "We just have twenty minutes to get there, so we're good. Let's go." The girls nodded and took off running, hoping to get to the Diner in time. Freddie had landed on the ground just in time to see the girls take off, he frowned and crossed his arms, wondering if something was wrong. Soon the girls made it to the diner, just in time to see Mrs. Puckett walking toward the restaurant. "We're here Mrs. Puckett, we're not late!" Sarah Puckett looked over and smiled as the girls ran up to her, panting from all the running they had done.

"It's good to see you're trying to get here on time," Sarah stated.

"Yeah…" Sarah smirked and held the door open for the girls, she then smiled as everyone walked inside. The host gave them a kind smile and led them to a table where they would wait on the waiter. "So, Mrs. Puckett, tell us about your finished project!" Carly nodded with excitement, she wanted to know all about it. Sarah carefully unfolded her napkin and smiled.

"Well, it's just something that we know works, we just need to try it on a human specimen. We know the main side effects that may occur, and we know the safe dosages. Of course, this strain is pretty rare...Girls, I'm going to be very important."

"Not just _very_ important, you're going to be famous!" Carly said while squealing. "You're going to be the greatest doctor ever!" Sarah chuckled lightly and glanced to the side.

"Nah, there are those who are more important than I am…"

"You're the only doctor with this new medicine! So you _know_ you're going to be famous." Sarah smiled lightly as a tint of red appeared on her cheeks. She glanced over as a waiter walked to the table, smiling at the groups.

"Hello, my name is Jose, and I'll be your waiter today." Jose placed a pen on his notepad and held his smile. "What can I get you to drink?" The group each ordered water with lemon and started looking through the menu. "I'll bring your drinks and then check back when you're ready to order." With that, the waiter left the table. Valerie looked up from her menu and at Sarah, she sighed and gave a smile.

"Mrs. Puckett, can I ask for some advice?" Valerie asked as she set down her menu, she had already decided on what she wanted to eat. Sarah glanced up from her menu and nodded in response. "I really want Jonah to ask me on a date, but I don't know if he even likes me…nor do I think I deserve a boyfriend." Sam glanced over and Sarah raised her eyebrow, thinking of something she could say to Valerie. She hoped that she could give her some good advice.

"Valerie, no girl in this world doesn't deserve the happiness and pleasure of having a boyfriend. Even though you did something wrong one time, it doesn't deny you the right to date." Valerie smiled and Sarah returned the smile. "Keep in mind that if you like Jonah, and he's taking his time on asking you out, like most guys do, you should push a little." Sam chuckled lightly and Carly raised her eyebrow as Sarah merely smirked. "Give him a few hints every now and then, and if he is clueless and doesn't ever pick up on those hints, then just be blunt. Tell him that you would like to go out with him. If he says no, then leave it at that, but don't let it ruin your friendship."

"Thanks, I guess I can do that." Valerie smiled and glanced over as the waiter started walking toward the table. He set the drinks down and everyone looked up, ready to order their meals.

* * *

Well, I hope you liked the chapter! Seems Mrs. Puckett gives some good advice. Stick around for the next.


	11. The Theme Park

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 11 (The Theme Park)

The next day, Freddie was with Susie. The two were hanging out and looking over a long list that they drafted of things to do by a certain deadline. One of the items on the checklist was to go to a water park and slide some of the tallest slides. "How about we invite some of our friends to go with us?" Susie suggested while looking from the checklist and to Freddie.

"Yeah, that sounds alright," Freddie responded. He looked at Susie as she glanced down to the checklist, his face softened and his eyes grew sad. _"Susie…"_ Freddie slowly shook his head and pulled his cell phone out, just as he was about to dial a number, it began ringing. Susie chuckled at the sight and Freddie's shocked face. He quickly opened the cell and heard Jake on the other end, he sounded upset. "Jake, what's going on?" Susie raised her eyebrow and glanced over as Freddie tried to comfort his friend.

"Stephanie broke up with me," Jake said in a tearful voice. "Well, we didn't really break up in the sense of breaking up…we didn't fight or anything." Jake stopped and took a deep breath at the request of Freddie. "She said it felt like we weren't really going anywhere, and so she ended the relationship." Freddie frowned at that statement, Stephanie was moving as well, but they had intended to stay together. "I guess it just wasn't meant to be…" Susie frowned and held her hand out, signaling that she wanted to talk. Freddie nodded and gave her the cell.

"Jake, this is Susie." There was a small pause before he responded.

"Susie? I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Susie smiled lightly and rolled her eyes.

"No, you're not interrupting anything. Tell me what just happened, you had a breakup with your girlfriend?" Jake responded with a nod and a yes, causing Susie to breathe a small sigh. She knew breakups were hard, they were rough on everyone involved. "Listen, I know how hard breakups can be, so if you don't mind, I can give you some advice. Just relax, try to distract yourself from her, and spend time with your friends."

"Yeah, I guess that would help…" Susie smiled and nodded in response.

"Listen, Freddie and I are going to the water park, and we're inviting some friends to go along with us-"

"Wouldn't you two want to go alone and have some fun?" Susie blinked and giggled slightly while shaking her head.

"Nah, we just want to spend time with our friends. I'm thinking of inviting Champ and Morgan, they really need to have some fun. It's hard on them, as it is on us all, with what happened at our old school."

"Yeah, I agree."

"So, do you want to come with us?"

"Sure, it sounds like fun. I'll see you there, when are you going?"

"At two o'clock."

"I'll be there." Jake hung up and Susie smiled while handing Freddie his phone. Susie took a sheet of paper and placed it on the table, she then took a pen and wrote down Jake's name. She leaned back in the chair and thought about how they could make him feel better. The best thing to do is just to be a friend and be there to provide comfort.

"I'll call up Jonah," Freddie said as he dialed his friend's number in the phone. He waited for Jonah to respond, and rested his arm on the table. Soon Jonah answered the phone, practically on the last ring. "Hey Jonah, have trouble finding your phone?"

"No."

"Oh, so were you ogling Valerie's picture or watching her webshow or something?" Susie raised her eyebrow and Freddie smirked. Jonah blushed slightly and frowned.

"Of course not, I just didn't hear the phone ringing…besides, she doesn't care about me in that way, and I don't really think I deserve a girlfriend."

"Don't talk like that, of course you deserve a girlfriend. There isn't a person in this world that doesn't deserve to have a relationship with someone." Susie glanced over and nodded in agreement, though she did wonder why Jonah felt that way.

"Yeah, so what are you calling for?"

"Susie and I are inviting our friends to join us at that big water park, and we've already invited Jake. We know he's going, so will you go with us? It's at two."

"The big water park, are you talking about Splash?"

"Yes." Splash was the newly built water park, Freddie had only been there a couple of times.

"Cool, I haven't been there yet, so I'll definitely go!"

"We'll see you then." Freddie hung up the phone and glanced at Susie, she smiled and wrote down Jonah's name. Freddie crossed his arms and waited as Susie glanced up. "So who is next? I think I can call Sam." Susie gave him a quick nod in response.

"That would be a good idea," Susie replied. She would love to have Sam join the group. Freddie opened the phone and dialed Sam's number. It rang and rang, and finally the voicemail came on. Freddie sighed and hung up the phone.

"She didn't respond, I guess I'll call Valerie now." Susie nodded as Freddie dialed Valerie's number. He waited until she answered.

"Freddie, what's up?" Valerie asked.

"I would like to know if you want to join us at the water park, Splash. Jonah will be there." Freddie smirked and heard Valerie breathe in sharply.

"Jonah's going to be there?"

"Yes. Oh, and if you want to go, will you bring Sam along with you?"

"Yeah, I think she'd love to go. I'd ask Carly too, but she's busy doing something with her brother." Freddie shrugged in response, that was fine with him. "I'll be there, when are you going?"

"We're going to be there around two." Valerie nodded and the two said their goodbyes as Freddie hung up the phone. "Okay, put Valerie and Sam down. I'm sure Sam is going to be there." Susie nodded and wrote down the girl's names. "Okay, so who else is there?"

"I'll call Morgan and Champ," Susie said while taking out her cell phone. She dialed Morgan's number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello?" Morgan answered. "Susie, how are you?"

"I'm good, and how are you?" Susie tilted her head as Morgan merely shrugged.

"I could be better and I could be worse. You know how it is…" Susie nodded in understanding, Morgan was still upset over the loss of her old boyfriend, Derek. "At least I still have you guys with me, I guess." Susie frowned and shifted her eyes to the side, biting her lower lip. She quickly shook her head and smiled.

"Yeah, Champ and I will always be your friends, no doubt about that!"

"That I'm glad about. So, why did you call?"

"I wanted to know if you were interested in going to the water park with us. Freddie has invited some of his friends, and we'll be going to Splash around two. I'm thinking of inviting Champ along as well, if you think he'd enjoy going." Morgan smiled and leaned back in her chair. Splash sounded fun, and she needed something fun.

"Sure, I'll go if you and Champ are going, so put me down and I'll meet you there."

"Great! We look forward to seeing you." Morgan nodded and the two girls hung up. "Morgan's going. I'll call up Champ and see what he says." Freddie nodded as Susie dialed Champ's number and waited for his response.

"Hello?"

"Champ, this is Susie, how are you?"

"I'm good, just working out a little. I have to catch up with Roland, excuse me, _Freddie_." Susie giggled for a bit and slowly shook her head, she never thought she'd hear Champ have to say those words. Actually, nobody ever thought it. She had to admire Freddie's growth. "So, how are you and Freddie getting along? Has anything interesting happened with you two, lately?"

"No, not really...everything is going just fine, actually. We are planning to go to the water park, and we've invited a few friends. Morgan's going, so would you like to tag along?"

"Morgan's going to go with you?"

"Yeah…it should be Jake, Jonah, Valerie, Sam, and Morgan. There is always room for one more, we are going to get there around two." Champ tapped his chin and smiled, he would love going there. If Morgan was going to be there, that helped things a bit. "So, do you want to go? We're all going to go to Splash, that's the place."

"Isn't Splash more of an amusement park?" Splash had a lot of things in it, so it wasn't just a water park, but more of an amusement park.

"Yeah, with roller coasters and all…"

"Cool, well then, I'll see you there."

"That's great, it's going to be fun, I'm sure of it. See you then." Susie hung up the phone and glanced at Freddie with a smile, all of their friends had chosen to come along. Freddie returned the smile and sat down in a chair.

"Well, I guess we should go ahead and get ready," Freddie said as he tilted his head to the side. "Do you think you can handle some of the bigger rides and stuff?" Susie closed her eyes and nodded.

"We've talked about this already, and yes, I can handle all of that. It's not like they're going to kill me."

"Good." Freddie smiled and slowly stood up, he had to get home and gather his things. "Aunt Emily and Uncle John seemed happy to meet you yesterday, so I'm glad for that."

"Yeah, so you have to go get ready?" Freddie nodded and Susie gave him a hug. "Cool, I guess I'll see you there. I'm going to see how planning goes."

"Huh?" Susie smirked and gently tapped his cheek.

"You'll see, Freddie, you'll see." Freddie raised his eyebrow and watched as Susie turned around and exited the room, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders as he followed.

-NEW SCENE-

Freddie and Susie were the first two to arrive at the amusement park, it was about twenty minutes before two o'clock. "So, now that we're here, what do we do until the others get here?" Freddie asked while sitting down on a nearby bench. Susie shrugged and sat down next to him. Freddie saw that she had a bunch of snacks with her. "You also have food…"

"Yeah, I imagine we'll be here for most of the day," Susie responded as she leaned back. She closed her eyes and let the sun beat against her face, it was a warm feeling that she loved. "I want everyone to be able to have snacks and all, especially when supper rolls around, I've packed a few sandwiches." Freddie nodded and shifted his eyes toward the side, checking to see if anyone else was there yet. "I guess we'll just have to wait for the others to make it."

"Yeah, pretty much." Susie glanced over and saw a car parking nearby, soon Valerie and Sam exited the vehicle. Freddie smiled and quickly stood up. "Sam, Valerie, you made it!" Susie stood up and Sam stared at the two in surprise, she hadn't expected them to be there. Of course, Valerie hadn't told her they were going to be there. She closed her eyes and let out a small sigh, she was afraid of Freddie and Susie acting all in love with each other, she didn't want to see that. She knew she would be hurt if she had to see that.

"Hey dork, I didn't expect you to be here," Sam replied while glaring at Valerie through the corner of her eyes. Valerie chuckled nervously and Freddie merely chuckled. He didn't mind, he was happy to see her. Just as Sam looked ready to pounce Valerie, another car drove up and parked alongside her car. The group looked over and saw Jonah exit the driver's side of the vehicle, Jake then exited the passenger.

"One lovesick passenger at your service," Jonah said while smirking at Jake. He was only trying to lighten the mood, he knew it wouldn't be right to joke about something so horrible as the end of a relationship. "Jake, it'll be alright, you just need some time."

"Yeah, that's right," Susie responded while stepping next to Jake. "It takes a little time to completely heal from something like this, but you'll make it." Jake gave a half hearted chuckle and glanced toward Susie, she had a bright smile on her face. The smile was somewhat soothing to him, calming him from what had happened. Jake quickly glanced to the side and saw another car driving up, it was Champ and Morgan. They parked the car and soon exited.

"Hey, we made it," Champ said while draping his arm around Morgan's shoulders and smirking. Morgan raised her eyebrow and glanced over at Champ, he chuckled nervously and quickly moved his arm away from her. She sighed and glanced toward the side when that happened, it had been slightly comforting to feel his physical contact. "Well, since we're all here, let's get moving!" The others nodded and started retrieving whatever items they brought and headed toward the front gate. Each of them bought their tickets and soon entered the big theme park, they couldn't believe how huge it was.

"I've done a little research on this park," Susie said while rubbing her chin. "It's deemed a water park because the biggest area of the amusement park is the water part. Other than that, it's got roller coasters and rides of all sorts." Everyone nodded and glanced around the park, not knowing where to begin. Susie took off the backpack she was wearing and placed it on the ground, everyone watched as she pulled a piece of paper from it. "I thought we all should try everything in the park, so I set us each in groups of two."

_"Where is she going with this?"_ Sam thought while raising her eyebrow. She felt her stomach drop, she had a feeling that Susie was going to spend all her time with Freddie, and she wouldn't be able to see Freddie. Susie looked at Sam and gave her a smile, she had a feeling that Sam might be feeling a little anxiety. After all, she suspected Sam of liking Freddie, and if that was the case, she was probably feeling a little awkward.

"Since we all need to spend some timewith each other _and_ we want to ride all the rides in the park, I've brought radios and timer watches." Sam raised her eyebrow as Susie began taking watches and radios from her bag and started handing them out to everyone. "We should each synchronize our watches for a certain amount of time and choose a meeting spot, that's where we'll break off into our next pair. I'm interested in meeting everyone and getting to know them, so I set myself to go with Freddie last." Sam nearly choked at that, she couldn't believe Susie would want to be last.

"Okay, I guess we can do that," Freddie stated while crossing his arms over. Sam glanced over at him and frowned, she was sure he wanted to be with Susie. "So, what are the first groups?" Susie looked around the park and saw what looked to be a circular fence surrounding some water, there were also benches lined up along the fence.

"Let's meet there every thirty minutes, does that work?" The others nodded and Freddie merely smiled, admiring the fact that Susie was a decent organizer. He figured that she made a good leader. "Okay, everyone get with your partners as I go down the list."

"Okay then, just tell us who the pairings are," Sam said while glancing downward. She had a feeling she'd be next to last with Freddie.

"First groupings are Jake…you're with me." Jake lifted his eyes up and smiled as he nodded and walked next to Susie. Susie looked at the list and saw some of her markings, she had started to put Jonah with Valerie at first, but they already knew each other well, as did Champ and Morgan. She put those two groups together second. "Champ, you're going with Jonah." Morgan frowned and watched as Champ smiled at her and then walked over to where Jonah was standing.

_"Okay, so I'll be paired up first with either Morgan or Valerie…"_ Susie shifted her eyes upwards and smiled.

"Valerie, you are going to go with Morgan." Valerie smiled and stepped next to Morgan. Sam's eyes widened considerably as she glanced at Freddie, knowing that he was the last person left. She was shocked that she was going to get any time with him. She felt her heart leap up and start pounding in her chest. Freddie looked over at her as Susie spoke their names, she could feel the heat rising inside of her. Freddie smiled and took her hand, causing her body's heat to flare up even more.

_"I'm with Freddie? I'm with Freddie, first?!"_ Sam looked from Freddie and over at Susie, her eyes filled with a look of disbelief and partial shock. Valerie chuckled lightly and nudged her in the side, she blinked and quickly glanced over at Valerie. "What?" Valerie chuckled and slowly shook her head, she was just trying to get Sam out of her trancelike state before everyone else noticed. "Let go of my hand, dork!" Sam quickly pulled her hand from Freddie and shifted her eyes to the side. "Why did I get put with the geek, first? Seriously…"

"Whatever, we'll have fun anyway," Freddie said while smirking.

"Hm…" Sam glanced down as he smirked, trying to avoid looking at him. If she looked at him, she might have lost all her control. She sighed and spoke under her breath. "I'm kind of shocked your girlfriend actually put you with me rather than her…" Freddie raised his eyebrow and glanced toward Sam with confusion, he hadn't heard what she said, but he was sure that she said something about a girlfriend.

"Okay guys, let's get ready to go and have some fun!" Susie said while grinning and pushing the paper into her backpack. "Let's meet back here every thirty minutes, _and_ definitely at five, then we can eat our sandwiches. I made them for everyone." Sam chuckled lightly and shifted her eyes to the side, she wasn't sure if she wanted to eat one of those, Susie might have poisoned them. Of course, Susie wasn't anything like Shannon it seemed. Sam blinked and glanced over toward a group of trees, she thought she saw Shannon and her posse. Freddie was looking toward another area of the park. He thought he saw Rueben, Gibby, and Jeremy all talking to each other.

_"What are they doing here?"_ They thought while tilting their heads to the side. They shrugged it off as the people just having fun at the park, no big deal. With that, the group set their watches and put the radios in their pockets. They grabbed their things and started off in their separate directions. Shannon and her posse moved toward the center, as did Rueben and his group.

"It's not fair!" Shannon exclaimed. "He should want me, why is he with those girls? They don't want him." Rueben rolled his eyes and groaned slightly, annoyed with her constant whine..

"You need to quit your whining, seriously," Rueben said as he crossed his arms. "Give him time, and he'll warm up to you. Just like Sam will warm up to me, and we'll ride off into the wonderful tunnel of love!" Rueben grinned and Shannon raised her eyebrow, scoffing in response.

"Looks like _you_ need to get a life, Sam will _never_ go for you." Rueben scoffed and the group walked off. Unbeknownst to them, Susie and Jake had stopped to get a snack, and Susie was watching them. She was grinning, thinking of something. Jake got his snack and the two were off.

* * *

Well, we'll get to see the groups at the amusement park, sounds fun. Rueben and Shannon...not a clue what to say about them, lol. I hope you enjoyed this.


	12. First Wave

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

Chapter 12 (First Wave)

* * *

Jake and Susie walked toward the western part of the park, Susie glanced back and then looked toward Jake. "We should let the others know that Shannon is here," Susie stated while crossing her arms. Jake raised his eyebrow and glanced over, he wasn't sure if Shannon being around was a good thing or a bad thing. "Also that one other guy that Freddie tells me tries to ask Sam out is here too."

"Oh, well they're all pretty dumb," Jake said while shrugging his shoulders. "I don't think they could tell their hands from their feet sometimes." Susie giggled and Jake smiled in response. _"Her laugh is kind of nice to hear…"_ Jake blinked and quickly shook his head, glancing toward the ground. Susie alerted the others to keep a lookout for Shannon and Rueben, just in case they tried anything funny. Jake glanced over toward a rollercoaster that didn't have a long line, he grinned pointed toward it. "Hey, let's go on that thing."

"Hm…" Susie saw the rollercoaster he was looking at and grinned, it looked like fun. It was a giant rollercoaster and had seats in the position of chairs that hung from the beam. In some areas, the seats would turn upside down and twist, and in other areas the seats did several loops. "Yeah, that ride does look like fun. Let's go!" Susie looked toward Jake and smirked. "First one to the front lines gets to choose where we sit. Come on!" Susie ran toward the area and Jake quickly followed behind. "Can you catch up, slow poke?!"

"Yeah, you'll be eating my dust soon! Remember who my best friend is, I have to run at his pace almost all the time." Jake smirked and sped up. Susie gasped as Jake passed her, he laughed and Susie merely smirked. She then sped up and started running at Jake's speed. "Hey! What the…" Jake's eyes widened and Susie laughed. "Come on, no fair!" Jake picked up the pace and Susie quickened hers. "You're not supposed to be able to meet my speed!" Susie chuckled lightly and the two finally made it to the front, both were starting to pant from the run.

"You forget that I have been in gym as well." Jake chuckled lightly and Susie glanced over toward the cart entering, this was going to be one of the greatest rides she had been on in a long time. "Well, we got here at the same time, so where do you want to sit, the front?" Jake shrugged and waited as the gate opened. They made their way to the front and sat in the seats. "Are you going to be able to handle this one, Jake?" Susie smirked and Jake glanced forward, seeing how high up they were going to be.

"Yeah, I'll be just fine." They felt a bump as the restraints moved down and held them in place, then the ride began. "Now you just tell me if you'll be able to handle it." Susie laughed and slowly shook her head.

"I'll be sure not to puke on you." Jake paled slightly as Susie smirked. The seats began to move and Jake started screaming to be put elsewhere. "Oh, I was only joking. I wouldn't puke on you. At least I would try not to."

"Yeah, sure thing…" The ride immediately picked up speed, shooting at speeds near seventy miles an hour. Jake and Susie both attempted to hold in their screams and ignore the screams of other passengers, but they soon found themselves screaming as well. The ride lasted about two and a half minutes before stopping. The two laughed as they got off and walked toward the ground. "That was fun, we should definitely do that again." Susie nodded and ran her fingers through her hair. Jake glanced over and spotted the scar on her arm, it didn't look like a normal scar at all. Susie felt his eyes and quickly pulled her sleeve down, covering the scar.

"So, Jake…" Jake shifted his eyes upwards and met Susie's gaze. "Tell me a little about Stephanie, if you feel like it. Were you two really in love and all?" Jake glanced forward and shrugged. Sure, it still hurt that he broke up with her, but then he figured it probably wasn't meant to be. "You know, if you feel uncomfortable with it, you don't have to tell me." Jake crossed his arms over and thought for a moment, he didn't mind talking about Stephanie at all.

"She was a great girlfriend and all, but it wasn't meant to be. I mean, we didn't do much, and she always seemed to want something more than what I could really offer her." Susie tilted her head to the side and Jake gave a small sigh. "I probably shouldn't even be upset over it, but I am." Susie gave an understanding nod and then gave him a friendly hug, hoping to give him some sort of comfort. She released him and smiled.

"You will heal from this. We all heal from these kinds of struggles. As hard as it is, there will _always_ be a way out of some problem." Susie blinked and frowned slightly. _"Unless you're like me, then there's no way out."_ Susie shook her head and smiled as she rubbed her arm. "Anyway, Freddie did say she was moving, correct?" Jake nodded in response and Susie crossed her arms over. "Will you ever see or hear from her again?"

"No." Susie closed her eyes and sighed, she knew where he was coming from.

"Maybe then you know that you should just try to move on. Don't let the past eat you up, but embrace the future."

"Yeah, you're right…I shouldn't let this take me over. Is it wrong for me to say that I hope Stephanie finds someone who will make her happy?" Susie smiled and shook her head in response.

"No, because I want the same thing for Freddie..." Jake blinked and raised his eyebrow in response. Susie smiled and started walking. "Now come on, we have lots of rides to catch up on!"

-NEW SCENE-

"Damn Shannon, I wonder what that girl wants," Jonah said while narrowing her eyes. Champ shrugged his shoulders and glanced toward the right, seeing Shannon and her friends at a stand.

"It's possible she's just here to have a good time," Champ said while rubbing his chin. Jonah nodded and the two boys continued walking. They figured Shannon could be here for the rides, but most likely she was here to spy on Sam and the others. Champ shifted his gaze over to Jonah and smirked, thinking of something to talk about. "You seemed a little disappointed when Susie put Valerie with Morgan." Jonah blinked and paused for a moment. "Did you want her to go with you? I'm sure she will be with you soon." Jonah then blushed and shrugged it off.

"Yeah maybe…I don't know, I don't think I really deserve to have a girlfriend." Jonah looked toward the ground and Champ raised his eyebrow in response. "I mean…you don't know the reason, and I'd rather not think about it." He narrowed his eyes and shrugged, not really caring. "I mean, why should a bastard like me have a girlfriend? That's what I am, after all. I tried to cheat on Sam with her best friend." Champ winced slightly and Jonah gave a small sigh. "I got put on the wedgie bounce and thought Freddie was going to beat me up, though he did give me hell for what I had done." Champ nodded and tapped his chin, he didn't think Jonah needed to feel so bad about himself.

"Hey, so you did something stupid, you're not alone. We've _all _done stupid things." Jonah raised his eyebrow as Champ crossed his arms over and chuckled. "Hell, making fun of Freddie when we first met him was pretty stupid, as you can see. I mean seriously, look at the guy now! He's got girls running up to him, and he even has some cool friends. Not to mention that he's become cooler, he's better than I was."

"Heh, yeah…" Jonah chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of his neck as Champ continued.

"Just keep in mind, that just because you did something wrong once, doesn't mean you don't deserve a second chance. Hell, Freddie is actually friends with me, as well as Morgan. Although, Morgan never really did want to make fun of him…don't tell anyone I said this, but I think back then, she had a small crush on him too." Jonah raised his eyebrow and Champ laughed lightly. "The crush was so small that it died, and she began dating Derek…"

"Yeah, but I don't know if I do deserve that second chance. How the hell would someone like myself deserve it? How do I know that I won't just turn right around and not cheat a second time!" Champ closed his eyes and sighed as he placed his hand on Jonah's shoulder, he knew he couldn't do anything for Jonah at the time, but he could try and give him some advice.

"You already don't want to cheat again. You have the willpower to _not_ cheat, even when the opportunity arises. You have _complete_ control over your actions. In fact, if you like Valerie, you should consider asking her out."

"I want to, dude. I want to ask her out so badly, but I'm just afraid…of several things." Jonah sighed and slowly shook his head as the two walked toward a game booth. "You want to go a round on this?"

"Sure." Jonah pulled out his wallet and took out some money, Champ did the same. The two stood at the table and handed the clerk five dollars. "What prizes could we aim for?" Jonah tapped his chin and looked around, smiling when he saw two large animals.

"How about those stuffed animals over there?" Champ glanced over and nodded, he already had an idea about what he'd do with it. "Let's try not to spend all of our money though." Jonah blinked and thought about Valerie, he closed his eyes and smiled softly. "Actually, let's try our best to win those things."

"That sounds like a plan to me." Champ and Jonah were handed three balls. To win, they had to knock down their own pyramid of six bottles. Champ lifted one ball and threw it toward the pyramid, missing it. "Damn, okay, I'll get them with this next one!" Champ tossed another ball and hit one bottle off. "…ONE!" Jonah laughed and shook his head.

"Sorry man, but watch this!" Jonah threw a ball and missed the pyramid entirely. He lifted his second ball and threw it, once more, missing his pyramid and hitting the wrong one. He grumbled and Champ merely laughed. "Don't laugh!" Champ shrugged and threw his final ball, missing the pyramid once more. He grumbled and took another five dollars. "Ooh, you're trying again?" Champ nodded and handed the clerk the five dollar bill.

"I'm going to win that prize up there for Morgan, she deserves it." Jonah raised his eyebrow as the clerk set the three balls on the counter.

"Alright, good luck." Champ nodded and lifted the ball up, Jonah did the same with his final ball. Both aimed carefully for the bottles and threw the balls toward the pyramid, both hit the bottles on the bottom row, knocking down the entire pyramid. "Yes! Hell yes!" Champ laughed and the two pointed toward the prizes. "I'm going to take the big stuffed dog up there."

"Same here, I want the black one." The clerk nodded and took the stuffed dogs down and handed them to the guys.

"I just realized, we're going to look gay carrying these around…" Champ laughed it off and glanced toward the side as Jonah shrugged his shoulders. "So, you seemed a bit upset to be separated from Morgan."

"Ah, but it's just…she lost her boyfriend, and Derek was my best friend. I figure I want to be a friend and be there to comfort her during this time. Maybe this dog here will make her happy, since I really just want to see her smile. You have to admit, she looks beautiful when she smiles." Jonah closed his eyes and chuckled in response.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Just thinking about Valerie, it makes me really happy when I see her. Fortunately, Freddie doesn't care much about the ex girlfriend, best friend rule when it comes to her." Champ raised his eyebrow and confusion spread on his face.

"What rule is that?"

"Don't date your best friend's ex." Champ laughed and shrugged his shoulders, it didn't seem like that rule really was all that important. He did have to wonder if Freddie really was concerned about that, most likely he wasn't concerned at all.

-NEW SCENE-

Sam walked behind Freddie while going through the park, he didn't like walking in front of her, but she had insisted that he be in front. She used the excuse that she didn't want him staring at her, but now she was finding it hard not to stare at him. She couldn't help but to gaze at him. He seemed to have a perfectly chiseled back and his muscles seemed to be well toned. They had also just finished with the water portion of the park, and Freddie's shirt was entirely soaked. That fact made his muscles stand out a bit more than usual.

Freddie could feel her eyes on him, it didn't bother him at all, but he was shocked that she was actually ogling him. He glanced to the side and saw a ride called TOL, he thought it would be an interesting ride. Sam glanced over and spotted it as well, she tapped her chin and wondered what the letters stood for. It didn't matter one bit what they stood for, she grabbed Freddie's wrist and started pulling him toward the ride. "Come on Dork, we should ride this!" Freddie shrugged and smiled as Sam let go and rushed toward the line.

_"She's so beautiful."_ Freddie walked toward the line and made it to the front, surprisingly, there wasn't very many people there. They were only the third or fourth in line, so it wasn't going to be a long wait. Freddie leaned against the steel gate and glanced toward Sam, he then found himself growing lost as he took in her beauty. Her golden hair rested gently on her back, it was something he loved to gaze at. Whenever Sam talked or laughed, it sounded like beautiful music to his ears. _"I know I'm not dating Susie, but how would she feel if I were to ask Sam out?"_

Freddie grumbled and sighed in frustration, everything was just growing too confusing for him. He had to wonder how he got into this mess, and just who was against him. Both Sam and Susie were cute, that much was true. Of course, he wasn't sure if he should move on and date Sam, or if he should go with Susie. _"It would probably be short lived…"_ Freddie closed his eyes and growled, he hated how things were turning out. He had to know where his heart was. _"Where is my heart? Who do I give it to? Does anyone already have it?"_

"Hey dork, what are you waiting for?!" Sam exclaimed. Freddie looked over and saw that Sam was already seated in a small canoe shaped boat. "Move it!" Freddie chuckled and sat down in the boat with her, he crossed his arms and Sam glanced toward the person operating the ride. "Hey, what does TOL stand for?" The man smiled as he started the ride up, Sam and Freddie glanced forward as their boat began moving.

"It stands for the Tunnel of Love," the man stated.

"What!" Sam's eyes grew wide and Freddie paused for a moment, trying to clear his face of the surprise, he laughed at himself for not even suspecting that. Sam looked back and glared at the smirking engineer, she couldn't get out of the boat. She turned around and crossed her arms, she felt as though she had just been tricked. She glanced toward Freddie and her face softened. _"Well, it isn't as if it would be anything bad. I do love him…"_ Sam scooted close to Freddie, her body touching to his. Freddie's head jerked back slightly and he looked over to Sam as she closed her eyes and rested her head on his shoulder, he couldn't help but to smile. He had to wonder if she even knew what she was doing.

* * *

Gotta admit, Sam and Freddie had a cute moment there. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, drop a review.


	13. Afternoon

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 13 (The Afternoon)

With the first thirty minutes done, the group paired up with someone else. The second groupings put Sam and Susie together, it was a very awkward moment for Sam. Susie felt that and tried to make it less troublesome. Sam didn't seem to want to talk about much, but Susie had to get her to say something. She thought of a subject that might interest Sam, but shrugged it off. She heard Sam make a scoffing sound and quickly looked over. "What is it?"

"I just saw Shannon," Sam said while rolling her eyes. "I think she's spying on us."

"Maybe…she really is annoying." Sam nodded in response and crossed her arms, she really didn't want to have to deal with Shannon. "Uh, there's a fat kid without a shirt walking toward us." Sam raised her eyebrow and glanced over to see Gibby walking toward them, Rueben and Jeremy were with him. Sam moaned and glanced toward the side.

"We could run and not have to deal with the annoying morons." Sam smirked and Susie glanced over, running did sound like a good idea to her. Rueben stopped before Sam and smiled. "Okay Rueben, what is it this time?" Her voice had a bored tone to it, but Rueben didn't seem to notice.

"I wanted to know if you would like to ride a ride with me."

"No."

"Please, just one ride?" Sam rolled her eyes and glanced toward Susie, hoping the girl could think of some way out of this. "I mean it'd be real fun to ride hogs over the prairie!" Susie blinked and gave Rueben a dumbfounded stare. Rueben slapped his forehead and groaned inwardly at his obvious stupidity.

"Uh, what did he just say?" Susie asked as she leaned in and whispered to Sam.

"You got me, I can't understand a word that boy says half the time," Sam said while rubbing her forehead. Rueben was trying to talk normally, but every now and then, he'd slip. "I wonder if he understands the English language, I don't think he does."

"I do too!" Rueben proclaimed in his defense. Sam narrowed her eyes and smirked as she stared at him.

"You don't seem to understand the term NO. I do not want to 'ride hogs over the prairie' with you, nor do I want to go on a date! Get that through your head, I like someone else, anyway!" Rueben's jaw dropped and he sniffed once.

"You're mean!" Sam raised her eyebrow and scoffed while turning around.

"Are you just now figuring that out?"

"It doesn't matter, because I know you'll go out with me, eventually." Sam sighed and slowly shook her head, growing more and more annoyed with him.

"Come on Susie." Sam grabbed Susie's wrist and started running, Susie quickly pulled her arm back and ran at Sam's pace.

"Nice idea," Susie said while smirking.

"Running away from my problems, that's what I do." Susie frowned and tilted her head, she hoped that Sam wasn't trying to avoid Freddie, as she knew that her being there would be hard on Sam.

_"Sometimes I wonder if I should have transferred to Seattle. I just thought there was someone that could…I guess I was wrong."_ The two girls turned the corner and stopped running. Sam glanced over and saw Susie looking toward the ground, a single tear was running down her face and her eyes were closed.

"Uh, Susie, what's wrong?" Susie quickly shook her head and smiled at Sam.

"Uh...Nothing at all, I'm actually having great fun right now. It's been years since I've been to an amusement park of any kind." Sam raised her eyebrow and tilted her head, confused that Susie hadn't been to a theme park.

"You did have an amusement park where you used to live, didn't you?" Susie shook her head and frowned.

"No, the closest one was about one hundred miles away from where I lived. That place was actually pretty run down for a theme park…I think they closed it down last year." Sam winced and crossed her arms, it was upsetting to hear that she hadn't been to a theme park in quite some time.

"Well then, why are you crying?"

"Joy tears!" Sam raised her eyebrow and Susie merely smiled at her. "It's been so long since I've been to an amusement park, that I'm just so happy to be here. I've always said that I wanted to find the biggest theme park before I die, and this one is pretty huge."

"Yeah…uh, death is a depressing subject to think about."

"Yeah, that's true, but I'm not any closer to dying than I was a month ago, and so forth. It's a figure of speech." Sam nodded in response and glanced over, Susie looked over as well and smiled as she saw a Ferris wheel. "Let's go on there, seems like fun."

"Yeah, I haven't been on that in a while!" The two girls made their way to the Ferris wheel, they glanced back and saw Rueben and Shannon following them. "Damn, those two are persistent." Susie nodded and tapped her chin, she smirked and crossed her arms.

"I've got an idea for them, though." Sam raised her eyebrow as they got into the line. "We'll be a few seats ahead of them, and there doesn't seem to be anyone else on the Ferris wheel. We'll just have to see…" Sam raised her eyebrow as the two girls got onto one of the benches. The engineer started the wheel, and soon the girls started moving. The wheel stopped and Susie looked down, Rueben and Shannon were getting on the same bench. "Nice…" The wheel begun and the two girls waited as they came to the ground. "Ma'am, stop the wheel! We have to get off!"

"Okay," the woman said while hitting a button on her board. The cart stopped and the two girls got off. Sam raised her eyebrow and stared at Susie, wondering what she was plotting.

"I'm sorry to inconvenience you, but my friend was feeling a bit sick." Sam glanced up and saw Shannon leaning over the bench, holding a drink in her hand. It looked like Shannon was turning it, wanting to spill it on them.

"Uh, Susie, we better move," Sam responded. Susie glanced up to where Sam was looking and quickly stepped out of the way.

"Thanks for the warning." The drink spilled onto the woman's electric controller and shorted it out. "Hey, that wasn't my plan, but it works too. We should go, Sam." Sam nodded and the girls left, hearing the engineer cursing, along with Shannon shouting out some unclear words.

"Uh, what was your plan?" Susie smirked and crossed her arms over.

"I wanted to leave Shannon and Rueben alone together." Sam paused for a moment and laughed, she liked the way Susie was thinking.

"Yeah, those two could work well together! They're both idiots!" Susie snickered and nodded in response. She enjoyed actually talking to Sam, but was surprised to see that all it took was talking about Shannon in order to do that. Of course, she had a feeling Sam was going to silence herself once more and stop talking to her.

-NEW SCENE-

Morgan held the stuffed dog in her arms, pressing it against her chest and resting her chin on its head. "Thanks for the dog, Champ," Morgan said while smiling. Champ returned her smile and rubbed her back, he was glad to give her some comfort.

"Ah, I just thought you might like it," Champ said while smiling and crossing his arms over. "Plus, that one guy, Jonah was taunting me." Morgan laughed lightly and stared ahead, she was happy to have him with her. "So, how was your time with Valerie? I hope you guys didn't say anything bad about me." Champ made a mock hurt look and Morgan merely chuckled.

"No, we didn't say anything bad about you. We were just talking about stuff…" Champ looked over to see Morgan glancing downward, a saddened expression was evident on her face. He had a feeling that she was thinking about Derek again. "Did you know Valerie actually kissed Freddie on the cheek?"

"Oh, she did?" Morgan nodded and chuckled lightly.

"I'm not sure if she considers it her first kiss or not, but it doesn't seem like a first kiss. My first kiss…" Morgan closed her eyes and a tear fell from her eyes. Champ understood what this meant, since her first kiss was with Derek, and it was on the very day he died. Champ draped an arm around her shoulder and led her over to a bench, they sat down and Morgan buried her face into the dog. "I miss him, Champ. I feel like I could have done something. Maybe I could have gotten out of there, maybe I shouldn't have jumped onto that man…" Champ frowned and rubbed her back, trying to provide comfort.

"No, don't say that. Morgan, you saved Susie's life. You tried to, that was for sure. There wasn't anything you could have done to change the course of events that happened. Derek was someone who would go through great lengths to protect his friends and those he loved…that's what he did. He wanted you to live on." Morgan slowly shook her head and let another tear escape her eyes.

"He didn't have to die, why did he have to die? That pole should have hit me, not him." Champ wrapped his arms around Morgan and pulled her into a hug, he knew he never wanted her to die. Derek hadn't wanted her to die, either.

"Derek would not have wanted you to die. He wanted you to live on, and to be able to have a good life. Keep in mind, you're not the only one mourning here, so I'll let you know that I'm here for you whenever you need anything." Moran lifted her head and wiped a tear from her eyes. She looked at Champ, seeing him give her a small smile.

"Thanks Champ, I don't know what I'd do if you weren't still with me." Morgan rested her head against Champ's chest and closed her eyes. _"Is it okay that he feels soft and warm?"_ Champ ran his hand through Morgan's hair and glanced straight ahead, he figured they could just sit there for a few minutes. In the distance, he saw the Ferris wheel, it stopped moving. There seemed to be two people at the top of it.

-NEW SCENE-

"Get me down from here!" Shannon exclaimed. Rueben sighed and rolled his eyes, he was unsure of just how long Shannon had been screaming, but he knew he was getting a headache. "Come on! I don't like being stuck up here! I'm afraid of heights!" Rueben raised his eyebrow and glanced over, he wondered if Shannon was seriously freaking out. "Come on, please! I just want to get down from here!" Rueben chuckled and shifted his eyes to the side, he thought he heard Shannon make a whimpering sound.

"Did you just whimper?" Rueben asked. Shannon blinked and appeared stunned that Rueben actually talked.

"Shut up!" Rueben shrugged and rested his elbow on the bench arm and his hand to his face.

"It's not like anything can happen. There's a gate right in front of us and sides right here, we're also strapped in with a seatbelt." Shannon groaned and pounded the bench in frustration. "Maybe you shouldn't have dumped that soda over the bench."

"I was just trying to get her hair sticky." Shannon crossed her arms and shifted her eyes to the side. "I didn't want to ruin the stupid electric thing and get us stuck up here. At least not with _you…"_ Rueben rolled his eyes and slowly shook his head.

"Well, just shouting isn't going to do anything." Rueben glanced over the side and saw the lady still pressing buttons. "It could take hours." Shannon groaned loudly and Rueben shifted his eyes forward. "What do you think our friends are doing?"

"Amber and Ashley are probably riding some stupid ride, I don't know."

"Yeah, Gibby and Jeremy came along with me, they wanted to ride some rides. I didn't expect to see Sam and the others here, so when I saw her, I took my chance to ask her out."

"Yeah, well you're hopeless, you should know she's never going to say yes." Reuben shrugged and folded his arms over.

"You think Freddie's ever going to go out with you?" Shannon grumbled some more and glanced to the side.

"Well persistence always pays off." Rueben raised his eyebrow and glanced down from the Ferris Wheel, he could see the entire group hanging out near the restaurant area, which wasn't that far. Sam was glancing at Freddie every now and then, and he would do the same. He could see Valerie eyeing Jonah while Morgan sat next to Champ, who was whispering something to her. He chuckled and looked up.

"We have to get down from here."

"No crap, Sherlock." Reuben sighed once more and slowly shook his head, he wondered what happened to the ditzy side of Shannon. "I'm so scared…I just wish Freddie would get me down." Rueben narrowed his eyes and glanced toward Shannon, she looked like she wanted to curl into a ball, but she couldn't.

"There's no reason to be afraid, they'll get us down from here."

"It could take hours, moron!" Shannon brought her hands to her eyes and let out a single sob. "Why did I have to get stuck up here?"

"There is a reason they say…" Rueben stopped for a minute and let out a small sigh. "You're going to be all right." He patted Shannon's back and glanced toward where the ground was. "See, we're not that high up." He looked forward and smiled, the scenery really looked beautiful. "You know, if you just open your eyes, take a deep breath, relax and look forward, I'm sure you'll see something spectacular." Shannon lowered her hands and sighed as she took a breath and exhaled, she lifted her head and looked forward. In front of them was what looked like an endless amount of hills with a few lakes, it was a nearby golf course. The sun was setting behind the hills, and the sky looked like a mixture of yellow and pink.

"It's beautiful, I've never seen this sight before…" Rueben smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Shannon had been too panicky to be able to see anything important. "Maybe being up here until they fix this wheel will be just fine." Rueben nodded and glanced downward, the group had been looking toward the sunset as well, but they couldn't see the green pasture.

"If you want, I can probably help Freddie start to like you." Reuben shifted his eyes over at Shannon and saw her grin as if she had a plan.

"Sure, but I don't really need your help."

"Yeah, whatever you say…" Suddenly, the bench jumped slightly, causing Shannon to whimper and clutch onto Rueben.

"What's happening!" Rueben glanced down and smirked.

"Calm down, the engineer got the thing fixed, we're moving. Though, we're probably going to be in trouble for bringing the soda on the ride with us."

"We're moving? Really?" Shannon opened her eyes and looked down, she saw the ground slowly coming toward her. "We're moving!" Reuben chuckled lightly and Shannon realized she was touching him. "Uh…" Shannon quickly released Rueben's shirt and crossed her arms in embarrassment. "Let's never speak of this again." Reuben sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

"As you wish…" Shannon blinked and narrowed her eyes, letting a scowl from at her lips.

"Don't say that!" Soon they reached the bottom and found their friends waiting for them, each of them looked worried. Of course, the engineer looked very upset. Shannon looked at her and chuckled nervously. "Heh, what can I say? Oops…" The gate open and the seatbelts unfastened, Rueben and Shannon both stood up. Shannon started to get off and lost her footing, she screamed out as she slipped, but Rueben quickly caught her hand.

"Careful there…" Shannon looked up and at Rueben, she felt the heat rise to her cheeks and quickly scoffed.

"Whatever…thanks." Rueben and her friends helped Shannon get onto the ground without losing her footing, and Rueben quickly got off as well. "Okay, so you bums go your own way, and we'll go ours." Shannon dusted herself off and crossed her arms. "We'll talk about winning Freddie's heart tomorrow or something, we'll call you or something." Rueben shrugged, and with that, the two groups split.

* * *

Well, there were definitely some somber moments in this chapter. Champ and Morgan...Hm, Shannon and Rueben, dare I say they had a cute moment?


	14. Pressure Explosion

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 14 (Pressure Explosion)

The next week came around and Freddie was meeting up with Valerie and Jonah, they were talking about Valerie's webshow. Freddie had asked Susie to come along, so she was willing to do that. They met up at the smoothie shop. "So, who is Rebecca Berkowitz?" Susie asked while glancing over at Freddie. He seemed to have a pained expression from recalling a memory.

"I don't know who it is, it's just the name Sam said when she wanted Shane to kiss her," Freddie responded. Susie nodded and decided to stop talking about the guy, since it was obviously a painful time for him to remember. "I hated every second of that. Sam really wanted him to kiss her, Carly too…kissing Shane…both of them wanted to." She could tell he was trying to cover up the fact that he was more concerned about Sam than Carly, but she already knew that he liked Sam, it was clear enough.

"Yeah, I guess it's pretty hard to remember that." Freddie shrugged as they made it to the doors of the smoothie shop.

"Yeah well, Shane and I aren't really friends anymore. At least we're not great friends, not like I am with Jake and Jonah." Freddie stared at the door handle and frowned as he remembered the time where Sam had almost had Shane kiss her. Thankfully, the nurse stopped them. He had felt his heart pounding inside of him, and to top it off, he had to pretend that he actually wanted Sam to get together with Shane.

"That's too bad…"

"Yeah, but he still talks to Carly. It seems he hasn't started dating either Carly or Sam. Sometimes I can't help but to wonder if one of them will date. Ever since then, I've decided one thing…" Freddie opened the door and walked inside with Susie. "I abide by the code, and I expect my friends to as well. A best friend does _not_ date their best friend's love interest! Uh, not that I loved either girl…" Jonah glanced over as Freddie and Susie walked toward the table, he had heard what Freddie said, and it concerned him. Susie sighed and patted Freddie's back.

"I realize you're just a bit upset…maybe it's best to think of something else." Susie sat down at the table first and smiled at Valerie. "Hey Valerie! How are you today?"

"I'm doing great," Valerie responded while smiling back at Susie. Freddie sat down next to Susie and glanced over at Jonah. Jonah didn't have to worry about Freddie's rule, since Valerie wasn't his love interest. Of course, he had recently talked to Jake and learned that Jake was feeling really bad about something involving Susie. It was the fact that he thought he was starting to grow on her, that she was pretty and all.

"So, you don't believe a best friend should date their friend's ex girlfriend?" Jonah asked while raising his eyebrow. "Or the girl that person is crushing on?"

"Eh, something like that," Freddie responded. He folded his arms over his chest and groaned slightly. "Not that I really care as far as you and Jake are concerned." Jonah raised his eyebrow and merely shrugged. He was glad to know that he was in the clear, especially since Freddie had already given him the okay to ask Valerie out. The only problem was that Jonah didn't feel that he deserved a girlfriend. "They just have to ask first."

"Oh, so Jake just has to ask." Jonah muttered the sentence under his breath, so Freddie didn't hear him.

"What?"

"Nothing." Jonah shifted his eyes to the side and Valerie glanced at a waiter that was walking toward them. The waiter stopped at the table and smiled.

"Hello, would you like some smoothies today?" The waiter asked.

"Yeah, I'll have a strawberry banana smoothie, please," Valerie responded. The waiter wrote down the order and looked at Freddie, he was staring at his hands on the table, thinking about Sam, Susie, Carly, and even Shannon. His hands closed up in frustration.

"I'll take the passionate peach," Freddie said while narrowing his eyes. The waiter smiled and wrote down the order as Freddie's friends all stared at him with a look of concern on their faces.

"Uh, I'll take the Mango," Jonah stated. He couldn't help but feel bad for Freddie's current situation, he had a feeling that he was probably being very pressured at the moment.

"I'll have a Strawberry smoothie," Susie stated. The waiter nodded and wrote the last order down before walking away. She looked at Freddie and sighed as she rubbed his back. "Freddie, it's going to be okay…"

"So many things are happening right now," Freddie said in a quiet voice. "How can so much happen in such a small amount of time? I didn't even realize that I'd have to deal with so much in this last week."

"I'm sorry…"

"It's not your fault, Susie. Believe me, it isn't your fault at all." Freddie lifted his head and tried to smile, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. "I just had Carly bugging me about the fact that I'm spending less and less time with them, when I should be helping with rehearsals, but you…" Susie placed her hand on Freddie's arm and looked into his eyes.

"Listen, whatever you do is your choice, okay? I think my coming was at a bad time, but I guess I had no choice. Sure, Mr. Stewie will be on your mind, that much is very understandable. He was a good man, and a very good coach. Carly may be a bit miffed if you spend time with me, but don't let it bother you. If it bothers her, then I want you to spend some time with her. Okay?"

"Yeah, but Susie…"

"No buts. If Sam and Carly want you to spend time with them, do so. It isn't like I'm going to care. We're not dating anymore, Freddie. You don't _have_ to be with me all the time."

"I'm sorry, it just gets so aggravating sometimes." Susie gave an understanding nod and Freddie took a deep breath. He wasn't sure just how to deal with everything, but he knew that he'd find a way.

"Yeah Freddie, just relax," Jonah said while giving him a smile. "You have all of us here with you, so don't worry too much about it. We all have stuff we're dealing with, and that's why we have friends, to help us out of the troubles."

"True. So, what were we going to talk about?" Freddie blinked and looked toward Valerie. "Ah, your webshow. What is it that you need help with?"

"I need a way to start it up," Valerie answered. The waiter returned to the table and set the drinks down in front of everyone, they each took their respective drinks and the waiter was on his way.

"Okay, and you're going to need a tech producer and a co host."

"Right. That's where you come in, Susie." Valerie smiled and Susie hesitated, not sure what Valerie was going to suggest. "I want you to be my co host, since I know I need one. Also, Jonah's agreed to be my tech producer!"

"Yep, I'm here to save the day," Jonah added, a smirk was present on his face. "What do you say, Susie? Will you be the co host?" Susie stood with a near shocked expression on her face, Freddie frowned and glanced toward her.

"Well, what do you say?" Freddie asked as he took a sip of his smoothie. "Do you want to be her co host? I can tell you, it'd be very fun."

"I-I don't know." Susie glanced at her drink and slowly rubbed her arm. "I mean…I've never really done something like that before, and I don't even know what will happen in the future." Valerie laughed lightly and patted Susie's shoulder.

"Don't worry about the future, Susie!" Valerie said with excitement in her voice. "Live for today! Seize the moment, you know, Carpe Diem! That means seize the day."

"Yeah, but you see…" Susie frowned and a single tear started to escape her eye. She really wasn't sure what to do, and was scared of the things to come. She shrugged it off and quickly looked towards Valerie with a smile. "Sure, I'll do it!"

"Thank you _so_ _much_! You don't know how great it feels to finally have a co host. I would hug you, but I can't reach you from over the table." Susie chuckled nervously and smiled at Valerie. Jonah glanced past Freddie and spotted Shannon and Rueben sitting at a table, glancing toward Freddie. He sighed and wondered how long they had been there.

"We got trouble," Jonah stated. Freddie raised his eyebrow and watched as Jonah pointed toward Shannon, he followed Jonah's direction and frowned when he spotted the girl.

"She's spying, isn't she?" Freddie asked while narrowing his eyes. The second he looked over, he saw Shannon quickly look at Rueben. "You see? This is what I'm talking about! Why the hell do I feel like Shane did with Carly and Sam going after him?" Susie shrugged and took a sip of her smoothie, she had no clue how to answer that question.

"Perhaps it's because you have so many people vying for your attention." Freddie glanced at Jonah and sighed. Jonah was right, it seemed like Carly wanted his attention, as well as Sam, and even Shannon acted like she wanted his attention. He was probably going to blow if it kept going on like that.

"Let's see…three, two, one…" Freddie looked over to see a peppy looking Shannon standing at his table.

"Hey Freddie, I didn't see you here!" Shannon said with a quick voice. Valerie rolled her eyes and Susie closed her eyes as she continued to drink from her smoothie. She knew she just had to keep her patience, there was no real reason to get mad. She felt as though she would shorten her lifespan if she became too stressed, not that she wasn't stressed out enough as it was.

"Hey Shannon, I didn't see you here either." Freddie lied and glanced toward Jonah, as if he was pleading for help. Susie lifted her head and glanced back at where Rueben was. She saw him watching Shannon closely, then he frowned and glanced out the window, watching something else. "So, what is it you want?"

"Well, I was wondering if you could help me with a question." Freddie sighed and stared at the smoothie in Shannon's hand, he wondered why she even bothered to bring it over. "Well, I was just wondering. If you liked someone, and they never seemed to notice you, but always noticed another person, what would you do?"

"Gee, I don't know." Freddie rolled his eyes and leaned back in his seat. "You _do_ realize that I know you're talking about me, and that I will never like you, right?" Shannon narrowed her eyes and Susie gently tapped Freddie.

"Hey, I have to go to the restroom for a minute," Susie said while putting on a smile.

"Okay." Freddie started to move out of the seat and shifted his eyes over as Shannon started to turn around. She made a motion like she was tripping and dropped her smoothie cup, spilling it all over Susie's shirt and pants. Susie screamed out and Jonah slapped his forehead, knowing that was going to make Freddie angrier than he already was.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry!" Shannon said while placing her hands on her mouth.

"Damn it!" Freddie shouted. He quickly stood up and Shannon's eyes widened at his outburst. Rueben glanced over and raised his eyebrow, staring in concern. "What the hell do you think you're doing? How about this, get a goddamn life! I have enough problems in my life as is, I don't need you trying to butt into my life by acting like a bitch. Get the hell out of my sight before I get angrier." Shannon stepped back and watched as Susie calmly wiped her clothes with a napkin, not trying to react to what had just happened. "Listen up here, I'm _never_ going to like you, so accept that! I try to be nice, and what does it get me? Nowhere!"

"Freddie, you're being me…"

"I don't give a damn!" Shannon placed her hands on her eyes and ran out of the smoothie shop, Rueben quickly got up and followed her out. Freddie looked toward Jonah, Valerie, and Susie. Jonah and Valerie were staring at him with wide eyes, it had been a long time since they ever saw Freddie get mad. Hell, they never saw him angry until just then. "I'm sorry you guys had to see that…" Susie sighed and continued wiping her clothes, Freddie started to get another napkin for her, but she stopped him.

"I'm fine, I got it," Susie said as she stood up. She smiled and looked toward Freddie. "Thanks for standing up for me, but you don't have to worry about me that much. Also, I have another outfit just like this back home, I think I'll manage." Freddie slowly nodded and watched as Susie walked toward the bathroom. When she was out of sight, she stopped and placed her hand on her stomach, it was churning. She placed her hand and started coughing, she moaned and quickly rushed into the bathroom. She had a trickle of white fluid on the corner of her mouth, along with what looked like blood. With that, Susie quickly rushed toward the bathroom stalls.

"Are you going to be all right?" Jonah asked as he stood up and glanced toward Freddie. Freddie nodded and rubbed his forehead, he felt ashamed to have blown up like that. "You know that won't make her give up, but just try to be calm."

"I know, I know," Freddie responded. He ran his hand through his hair and groaned. "I just have so much going on right now, I feel like I'm suffocating here." Freddie looked toward the bathroom and frowned. "Susie…it's not just that she was my old girlfriend, but there's a reason I'm spending more time with her. There is a reason that I'm taking care of her, but she doesn't really want anyone knowing…"

"Do you, uh…Do you still have feelings for her?" Freddie blinked and glanced toward Jonah, he wasn't sure how to answer the question.

"I'm not sure. I mean, my feelings for Sam are very strong, still. I know Susie _says_ she wants me to move on from her, but I'm not sure if I can move on. I want to date Sam…but I don't know how either will take it."

"That's understandable enough." Freddie sighed and turned around, Jonah raised his eyebrow as Freddie started walking toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Freddie stopped walking and glanced back.

"I'm going home, I need to think. Tell Susie that I've gone home, and if she wants to talk, she has my number. I'm sure you can drive her back home."

"Yeah, we'll do that." Freddie smiled and walked out of the door, he knew he had a lot to think about, and no one at all to talk to.

* * *

Shannon really needs to learn some control, and did Rueben look _jealous_? At least Valerie's getting a co host and a tech producer in Jonah! Stick around for the next chapter.


	15. Sickness

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 15 (Sickness)

Carly paced the floor as Sam sat in a beanbag chair, Freddie was late for rehearsal. Carly was growing more annoyed with the stuff going on, since there was no reason that he needed to skip off of rehearsal, at least no reason that she could see. "Where is Freddie?" Carly asked. Sam shrugged her shoulders and Carly let out a small groan. "Ever since Susie came here, Freddie's been spending all his time with her."

"So what, it doesn't matter," Sam responded. She glanced down and felt a pang in her chest. Of course it mattered, she wanted Freddie, but she wasn't going to say anything. If he wanted to be with his old girlfriend, she was going to have to accept it. _"I don't _want_ to accept it. At the same time, I don't want to make myself appear like a bitch, like Shannon. However, I don't want to lose Freddie."_ It hurt to think of the situation, but somehow, she had to think of something to do.

"I don't know why I even bother complaining." Carly sighed and sat down next to Sam. "Freddie seems to be ignoring us, as if we were yesterday's trash!" Sam shrugged and continued to draw in the notebook that she had with her. "Okay, if Freddie's not here in ten minutes, I'm going to call Shane over." Sam chuckled lightly and kept drawing, she knew Carly wanted to call Shane over anyway, after all, Carly really liked the guy. She actually wondered why Carly and Shane hadn't gone out; it wasn't like there was anything preventing them. Unlike her relationship with Freddie, it just wouldn't happen.

"I thought you were going to date Shane, why are you two still not together?" Carly glanced over and saw Sam with her eyes still glued to the notebook; her pencil was carefully scraping against the page. Of course, Carly wanted to know what she was drawing, but figured Sam wouldn't really want her to know. "There's nothing preventing you two from it, at least I'm not stopping you. I don't have feelings for Shane." Sam frowned and paused in her drawing. _"I never really did, I just thought it'd make Freddie jealous…it didn't."_

"We just haven't gotten to that point yet, I don't know." Carly tapped her chin and tilted her head to the side, seeing that Sam was still wrapped up in something. "Are you still worried about Freddie and Susie? Don't let them get to you, I bet nothing will come of it!" Sam scoffed lightly and shifted her eyes to the side. Carly frowned and gave Sam a hug, hoping to comfort her friend. "It's going to be okay, Sam. Consider this, whatever happens, I'm sure he'll still be our friend."

"Yeah, but I wanted to be _more_ than just his friend…" Sam sighed and glanced toward what she had been drawing, Carly took a glance as well. The drawing was that of Freddie. Sam was standing next to him, and they had hearts surrounding them. In the background was Shannon, an anvil was drawn hanging over her head. Valerie was in the background, laughing at the girl, and Susie was not in the picture at all. The entire drawing was perfectly detailed. "I guess I'll never be able to date him, but I really don't want to give up.

"Then don't give up on him, you still have a chance." Sam shrugged and slowly pulled the page from her notebook, crumpling it. She tossed it toward a trashcan and leaned back in her bean bag. Just then, the elevator door opened, and Freddie stepped into the room. "Speak of the devil, it's Freddie!" Carly narrowed her eyes and placed her hands on her hips as she stood up. "Where were you?" Freddie glanced back as Susie stepped into the room, this caused Carly to raise her eyebrows and groan slightly. "He brought her with him…"

"Sorry I'm late, but I had to do something," Freddie said as he walked to the camera. Sam felt a pang in her chest, she wanted to know what it was that he had to do. Of course, she wasn't going to worry too much about it. "By the way, Susie is here to see what a webshow is all about. She's going to co host one with Valerie." Carly's mouth formed an O shape as realization hit her. She shrugged and walked toward the front of the camera, Sam stayed where she was, not really paying attention. "Uh, Sam, I think it'd be a good idea to come over here so we can start this."

"Yeah, whatever dork," Sam responded. She stood up and walked next to Carly and waited for Freddie to count down to the start. Susie sat down near a wall and placed her hand on the ground. She felt a piece of paper, so she looked down and picked up the crumpled ball. She opened it up and stared at the drawing, her eyes grew slightly. It was just as she had suspected, Sam really did like Freddie. Now she felt even more like she was intruding.

_"I can't say I'm surprised, really."_ Susie slowly stood up and carefully tossed the paper into the trashcan. _"I'm glad that's not me underneath the anvil. I really don't want to be perceived as a bitch, like Shannon."_ Susie watched as Carly and Sam begun their act, but frowned when she saw Sam wasn't as enthusiastic as usual. _"Freddie says she's always energetic…is this my fault? It is, I know it is. But…I didn't mean to make anything change."_ Susie placed her hand on her scarred arm and frowned. _"Damn, if only things were different…"_

"Hey Susie, are you all right?" Freddie asked while glancing toward her. She looked up and smiled.

"Yeah, but I have to go to the restroom. I'll be back in a bit." Freddie sighed, knowing full well what she had to do.

"Down the hall and to the left…" Susie nodded and left the room, she cupped her hand over her mouth and placed another hand on her stomach.

_"Ugh…I feel sick."_ Susie moaned and rushed down the hall and made it into the bathroom. She quickly knelt on the floor and gripped the toilet seat as she vomited. When she was done, she curled up on the ground and shook, her body growing weak and pale. _"Damn it, why? Terrance...Why…"_

"Hey are you okay in there?" A voice asked while knocking on the door. Susie slowly stood up and looked toward the door, the person behind it opened the door and looked at her with concern, it was Spencer. "Are you all right?" Spencer asked as he raised his eyebrow. Susie gave him a smile and placed her hand on her stomach. "Oh, you're Freddie's…friend, right?" She nodded and he gestured for him to follow her. "Come on, you should sit down on the couch, I'll make you some food."

"No thanks, I can't eat right now. I just threw up, so it's a bad idea to eat. If you have water, that'll be fine."

"Sure, come on." Susie flushed the toilet and followed Spencer down the stairs. She then sat down on the couch as Spencer filled up a glass of water. She glanced over and saw a half complete sculpture, Spencer smiled as he glanced over. "Jake's supposed to be coming over here shortly, he'll help me finish the sculpture."

"Jake? He'll be coming?" Spencer nodded and Susie gave a small smile. She enjoyed talking to Jake every now and then, he made her forget a lot of things.

"Here's your water." Susie smiled and took the glass from his hands.

"Thank you very much." Spencer nodded and glanced over when a knock was heard on the door, he answered it and Jake stepped inside.

"Hey, I hope I'm not too late," Jake said while glancing over at the sculpture.

"You're not, and it's fine. I just have to do something real fast." Jake nodded as Spencer left the room, he shifted his eyes toward Susie as she took a sip of water.

"Hey, what are you doing here?"

"I came with Freddie, I was going to watch the webshow so that I could get a feel for it."

"Oh." Jake walked over to Susie and sat down next to her. "Well, why aren't you up there with them?" Susie shrugged and stared at her water, she closed her eyes and let out a small sigh.

"I wasn't feeling to well, so I'm taking a break for a minute." Jake frowned and patted Susie on the back.

"Too bad that you're not feeling well, I hope you start feeling better."

"Thanks." Susie gave him a smile and took another sip of her drink. "I think it's probably just a bug." Jake raised his eyebrow and stared at Susie, she was pale and sweating. He had to wonder how she was sweating when the room temperature was only seventy. "I could just have a slight fever."

"I don't know…" Jake lifted his hand and felt of her head, his eyes grew wide and he quickly pulled away. "Wow, you're _really_ burning up! I don't think it's just a fever, you might want to have that checked."

"No, its fine, it'll probably go away really quickly. I appreciate your concern." Susie quickly cupped a hand over her mouth and started coughing.

"Whoa!" Jake started patting Susie's back until she stopped coughing and smiled at him.

"Thanks, I suppose." Susie took another drink of the water and sighed as the cool liquid ran down her throat. "I probably smell rancid right now, I just threw up a little while ago…"

"Nah, you don't smell bad at all! I hope it wasn't morning sickness, though." Jake smirked and Susie merely laughed.

"No, I doubt that. I wouldn't have morning sickness, I've never even done the deed with anyone."

"Well that's a good thing." Susie giggled and shrugged her shoulders.

"Though I am burning up…Hell, it can be thirty degrees, and I can start burning up sometimes."

"Do you get angry often?" Susie laughed and shook her head, it was rare that she would grow angry.

"No, but its fine, there's nothing to worry about. It's odd, I rarely ever get sick. I suppose the sickness should be gone really quickly."

"Yeah, it should pass." Jake gave Susie a small hug and smiled as she hugged him back.

"Thanks for the comfort." Jake nodded and released her. They didn't realize Freddie was watching them from the top of the stairs, a smile was present on his face. He shrugged and walked back towards the loft.

* * *

So Freddie might like the idea of Jake and Susie spending time together. Seems like Susie's got a little bug. Well, maybe it'll go away quickly, we'll have to see.


	16. Drowning

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

Chapter 16 (Drowning)

* * *

Morgan sat in her apartment, she stared blankly at the wall, wishing that Champ was with her. She was remembering Derek once again, and wishing that he hadn't died for her. It had been a week since the transfer, but a month since Derek's death. She blamed herself for his death, and she blamed herself for making Champ feel guilty.

Her parents were at work for the day, they didn't really have anything interesting to say. They wanted her to get over what happened, but they knew it would be hard as hell for her to do that. So in turn, they prayed constantly for her to be able to move on, that she might find someone who could help her to do just that. Of course, she didn't think that person would come, but she wasn't sure. A lot of strange things had been happening to her lately, and one of those many things that seemed different was Champ.

"Champ…" Morgan muttered under her breath. Her eyes widened when she felt something churning inside of her, she knew exactly what the feeling was. That feeling was the same one that had been with her in the last month since Derek's death. Though it wasn't the entire month, it was more in the amount of a few weeks. In her mind, she could see Champ and Derek, they were best of friends, and always the same. Though, as same as they were, they were also completely different. They liked similar things, but their lifestyle was a tad different. Even still, she knew that both men would have given their lives for her.

_"Why does everyone have to sacrifice their life for me? I should have been the one who died, not Derek."_ Morgan felt her tears running down her cheeks, she felt like she was trapped, and she was. She was trapped with the memory of Derek, with what seemed like no one able to help her to live. _"I don't have anything, or anyone, do I?"_ She frowned and continued to stare at the wall. It held so much meaning to her, it represented her own inner thoughts. The wall was like a barrier, keeping her from something, preventing her from realizing that she did have someone there for her.She couldn't see beyond the wall, but only the surface of it. That barrier was the haunting memory of Derek dying for her.

_"How does Champ feel about me? He probably just pities me, I'm only holding him back."_ Morgan felt more of her bitter tears running down her cheeks, she hated the feeling that she had. _"I love him, but he can never love me back, only because he knows I'm stuck to Derek's memory. I'm sorry Derek, but I can't move on. It's impossible."_

Morgan stood up and clenched her fists, she did feel alone. _"I love you Champ, but I'm only holding you back, I'm sorry. If I didn't grieve so much, then maybe things could have been different…I want to see Derek again." _With that, Morgan walked toward the door and stepped outside her apartment. She walked down the halls of the building, not saying a word. She reached the lobby and glanced over to see Lewbert staring at her. "Hey, tell my parents and tell Champ, I love them. Goodbye." Lewbert raised his eyebrow and watched as Morgan left the place.

_"What the hell was that about?"_ Lewbert thought as he reached for the ringing telephone. Morgan continued to walk down the streets, she needed to find something that would give her the freedom she desired. She hated making Champ feel bad, she knew that she was only making him feel worse. Soon it dawned on her, she knew exactly where she was going to go. She would hit the busy freeway, hopefully she could throw herself in front of a car and let herself die. To be hit by a car, it was probably the best idea she could come up with.

_"Though there's a chance I will survive. I don't want to survive, I don't want to bring pain or for there to be anymore pain. I have to end it."_

**-NEW SCENE-**

Champ sat in his chair at his home, thinking about the things that had been happening lately. He knew that things were getting pretty confusing for everyone. Freddie was already confused as hell about his feelings and what to do. He felt like he had to choose a girl, and he didn't know if it was going to end badly.

Of course, Champ did feel bad for him. After all, when you have to deal with such a frustrating situation, tensions run high for everyone. That seemed to be the case for everyone at the time, since something was going on everywhere. With the tragedy at Hamm Lake, and Susie's sudden appearance, as well as Morgan and himself, Champ knew that life was twisted up. Everyone needed to relax, but no one really knew how. Even he was worked up over a lot of things, like his feelings for Morgan. He loved her, but he wasn't sure if he should.

_"I want to protect Morgan and be with her for our life,"_ Champ thought while staring straight ahead. _"I don't care what anyone says, I love her._" Champ glanced up toward the ceiling and thought for a moment. _"Derek, what do you say? Is it okay for me to have these feelings for Morgan? I love her so much, but I just don't know if it is acceptable."_ Champ thought for a moment and frowned. "I can't deny what I really feel for her. If it's wrong, then it's wrong, but I want to be there for her no matter what. There's no way in hell I want to let her go."

Champ slowly stood up and glanced toward the phone, he wanted to call Morgan and tell her how he felt. He was going to ask if she wanted to go out with him, and it would be then that he would tell her his feelings. He couldn't accept rejection, but if he was, then he knew it just wasn't the right time. _"I will be the one to help her move on. Derek, I'll keep her safe from harm, I promise you. I will not let anything happen to her."_

He picked up the phone and started to press a number, he stopped and felt an odd feeling. _"What's this strange feeling that I have?"_ It was almost like a sense of dread, like something horrible happened. He closed his eyes and felt as if something told him to call the apartment lobby. He quickly dialed a number and waited until Lewbert picked up the phone. "Lewbert, is it possible for you to direct me to Morgan's room."

"Morgan, she's that dark haired girl, right?" Lewbert asked while tilting his head. "The one that always seems so sad?"

"Yeah…just direct me to her room."

"I'm sorry, she left a little while ago, sir." Champ raised his eyebrow and listened as Lewbert let out a small sigh. "She said to tell her parents and Champ that she loved them, and to tell them _goodbye_." Champ's eyes widened and he froze in shock.

"W-What did you say?"

"She said to tell them goodbye. I don't know what she's doing, but it kind of looked like she was really upset. In fact, she looked like she wanted to die. What would she be upset about?"

"Damn it! Did you see where she went? Did she say where she was going?"

"No."

"Crap, don't give me that, I know you saw something!"

"I apologize…" Lewbert paused for a moment and shouted something about children in his lobby. He then returned to the phone. "I do know that she started walking straight left from this building. Is there something wrong, sir?"

_"Damn it, this can't happen. I knew she was upset, but…damn, I should have paid more attention!"_ Champ's hand shook slightly as Lewbert asked him if he was okay once more. _"I have to stop her from hurting herself!"_ Champ quickly slammed the receiver down and ran outside toward his car.

-NEW SCENE-

Morgan knew that her tears were still going, but she couldn't feel any of them. She just continued walking, ignoring the concerned stares that people were giving her. She stopped beside a street vender and pulled out a five dollar bill, she handed the man the money and asked for a hotdog. The man handed her a hotdog and she was on her way. She took a bite of her food and gave it a hard swallow. She wanted to be able to appreciate what would be her final meal. She wiped her tears and then wiped her hand on her shirt.

_"What am I doing? No, there's no turning back. Champ…no, he doesn't care that much, I'm sure of it. He was only my friend because I dated his best friend. Surely he only pities me, that's all."_ Morgan let out another subtle sob and took a bite of her hotdog, making sure to chew it carefully. Soon, she made it to her destination, it was a beach like area. Of course, it was really just another one of Seattle's lakes, and it had sand surrounding it all over. Oddly, there was nobody at the sandy lake, but that would just help Morgan in a way.

_"With nobody here, no one will try to stop me from doing what I must do."_ Morgan sniffed and took out her cell phone, she saw that she had a few missed calls from Champ. She had no clue why he would be calling her, but it didn't matter anymore. _"I'm going to be with Derek, I won't be a burden to you anymore, Champ."_ Morgan stepped onto the beach and started walking, oddly, the sand beneath her feet felt cold to her. _"It's not even a cold day, how can the beach be cold?"_

She shrugged and continued walking toward the waters, smiling as they rippled in the wind. She always loved the water, and how beautiful it looked to her. It was not surprising that she would choose to die in a place that she loved more than anything.

She could hear the voices inside of her, telling her not to do what she was about to do, but she ignored them all. She had to do it, there was no way around it. She felt like a burden to Champ, and everybody else around her. She had a feeling that Champ didn't really care.

_"It has to be done."_ Morgan kicked off her shoes and removed her socks, she didn't think she needed those. _"I don't want to hurt anyone by making them not be able to find my body, so…"_ Morgan placed her cell phone in her shoes and paused when she heard it ring. _"Champ's calling me again, that makes the seventh time."_ She shrugged and removed her pants, then she pulled her shirt off and tossed it with the rest of her clothes. She decided not to worry about removing her underwear, since she wanted to be decent when they found her body.

With that, Morgan walked into the water, ignoring the screaming voices inside her mind. She then dived into the deeper part of the lake, swimming as far as the bottom as she could, while holding her breath. _"I'm sorry Mom, Dad…Champ. I know I'll see you all again someday, but I don't know if you'll want to see me. You'll probably hate me for trying something like this." _She didn't want to them to be mad at her, but it was the only way for her to be free. That was as far as what she knew.

She reached the bottom of the lake and spotted what looked like a crab, she smiled as the crab started moving away. _"Well, I guess I can follow it until my lung capacity goes out…that'll be a while…"_ Morgan moved her hands in front of her and swam just above the crab, watching as it moved across the ground. She felt something hit her ankle and she quickly turned around in the water, turning her ankle around as well. There wasn't anything that she could see behind her, but then everything was a blur pretty much.

_"Must have been my imagination…"_ Morgan turned around once more and spotted the crab, it had stopped moving. She enjoyed watching the crab move along the floor, and she wondered why it had stopped. _"Go on, continue moving, I want to see you walk."_ The crab didn't move, it appeared to have died. Morgan raised her eyebrow as the crab started floating in the water, it was then that she knew it was dead. _"What? No! I wasn't done with you, I liked you. Don't die…"_ Morgan frowned and closed her eyes, but it was then that the crab made her start thinking.

_"Susie, she's probably my best friend. What about Valerie, I've talked to her quite a bit, she's nice."_ She thought about how everyone had treated her, always nicely and with kindness. Then, it hit her, Champ had probably treated her with the most kindness of anyone. He cared for her, or at least that's what she thought. _"Even if he felt sorry for me, he probably wants me alive."_ She had five minutes before her lung capacity would go out and before she would start drowning. _"It would hurt Susie a lot if I died, though…"_

Morgan thought once more and slowly shook her head, she remembered that Derek had wanted her to live. If she killed herself and didn't move on like he wanted, wouldn't that mean she would have died in vain? _"Crap, I can't die! I don't want to die, not now!"_ Morgan started to swim up but something pulled her back. _"What!"_ Morgan glanced down and her eyes widened, she could see what looked like a vine that had been wrapped around her ankle. _"No…"_ Morgan was now filled with fear as she moved her leg in the water, trying to release the vine.

She heard what sounded like something splashing in the water, but she had no clue what it was. She ignored it for the time being and continued to struggle against the vine. For a moment, she forgot that she was under water. It was then that she opened her mouth to scream, and then she realized her mistake. She could no longer breathe, and would drown. _"No! No, please, dear God, I'm sorry! I didn't want to die, I just realized that. I want to tell Champ how I really feel about him. Please no, please…"_

* * *

This chapter was a bit rough, it seems the second she realizes she doesn't want to die, that vine grabs her. Will she make it? What was that splash? Stick around


	17. Freedom

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

A/N: I decided not to be cruel for two reasons: One, this was all one chapter anyway, and two...that cliffhanger is a bit much. So here you go.

Chapter 17 (Freedom)

Champ had to stop Morgan before she did something drastic. He quickly pulled out his cell phone and dialed Morgan's number. _"Pick up damn it, pick up."_ The phone rang and rang, but nobody answered. "Morgan, are you there? Please call me back, we need to talk." Champ opened the door of his car and got inside, he quickly jammed the keys in the ignition and started the car.

_"Where could she have gone?"_ Champ pressed the gas pedal and drove down the street, he dialed Morgan's number for the second time. It rang, but once more, nobody answered. "Morgan, I'm worried, Lewbert said you were upset about something. Where are you?" Champ hung up and set the phone in the car's cup holder, he wasn't going to give up searching for her. He eyed the sidewalks, looking for Morgan, to make sure she was just walking. _"Damn it, where is she?"_ He picked up the phone and called her number again, for the third time in a matter of six minutes.

"Please pick up, Morgan. I need to make sure you're not going to do anything bad. I'm concerned about you. Morgan, I need you to stay alive! I need you…" He hung up the phone and his heart started to pump, he wasn't sure just what the situation was. _"Maybe she just lost her phone, maybe that's it."_ Champ parked at a red light and tapped the steering wheel furiously. "No damn it, she _always_ has her phone with her. She never turns it off unless it needs to be charged, so why the hell isn't she answering?"

Champ growled as the light continued to stay red. The longer it was red, the angrier he got. _"Change, damn it, change!"_ Champ rolled his eyes and picked up the phone once more, it had been two minutes since his last call. _"I'm going to keep trying until I reach her and I know she's safe."_ Champ dialed Morgan's number and waited, but once more, the voicemail answered. "Morgan please, let me know you are okay. I'm getting very worried right now, Lewbert said you looked ready to die or something."

The light turned green and Champ hung up the phone, slamming his foot on the gas pedal. He continued driving until he found the apartment complex. _"Lewbert said she had gone straight left, I'm going in the direction she walked, okay."_ It had been three minutes, so Champ tried Morgan once more, but for the fifth time, he got nothing. "Morgan, please answer the phone! I'm getting worried here, where are you?"

Champ sighed and continued driving, he had to ask someone if they might have seen her, but everyone was just a pedestrian, and probably wouldn't have seen her. He spotted a hotdog vendor and smiled, that guy might have seen her, since he would have been there most of the day. He stopped near the hotdog vendor and rolled down hiswindow. The vendor raised his eyebrow as Champ quickly gestured for him to come to the window. The vendor shrugged and walked toward the car, crossing his arms over. "Can I help you sir?" The vendor asked. "I don't do drive ins, though." The vendor chuckled and Champ rolled his eyes in annoyance.

"I don't care for jokes right now, I'm looking for this girl, and I want you to know if you've seen her."

"Sir, I've seen a _lot_ of gi-"

"Shut up and listen!" The vendor stopped and Champ rubbed his forehead. "Morgan McNeil, she's my friend. She's got brown hair, and is probably wearing a Hamm Lake shirt." It was a Friday, and the day anniversary of the tragedy at the school. Morgan always wore a Hamm Lake shirt on Fridays. "In fact, it'll have an H-A-M-M on it. Have you seen her?" The vendor thought for a moment and Champ added another bit of information. "She also may have been crying, this is an upsetting day for her. She's from Hamm Lake, and this is the anniversary of the school's tragic…whatever, just tell me if you've seen her!"

"Let me think for a minute, sheesh."

"I DON'T HAVE A MINUTE!" Champ normally could remain calm, but for some reason, he wasn't able to keep his calm. The vendor looked over at a customer who was at his stand and he walked over to serve the customer his food. "No! Damn it!" Champ growled and decided to call Morgan's phone for the sixth time, but for the sixth time, she didn't respond. _"Crap."_

"Morgan, _please_ answer! I can't lose you, you're the only thing I have that means the most to me. Please, don't do anything drastic…" Champ hung up as the vendor walked back to him, he narrowed his eyes and glared at the vendor. "Please tell me you've seen her. I need to know. I love her, and I'm worried that something may happen to her, so I need to know where she went." The vendor sighed and rubbed his chin, trying to think. Finally, he remembered Morgan walking by.

"Yes, I do remember her. She bought a hotdog here, and continued walking straight in the direction you're going," The vendor explained.

"Thank you!" Champ continued to drive and glanced at a stoplight, it was turning red. "I don't have time!" Champ pressed the gas pedal and drove past the stoplight, fortunately there were no cop cars around. _"I would have to keep driving, even if I was spotted. I just don't have time to stop."_ Champ narrowed his eyes and stared ahead, he could see a beach in the distance. _"A beach…of course, Morgan loves the water. If she is going to the beach…oh god no…this can't happen!"_

Champ's eyes widened and he slammed the gas pedal, shooting toward the beach. Soon, he made it to the beach. He turned and quickly parked in a parking spot, but it was sloppy parking. He didn't have any time to be concerned about that. He pulled out Morgan's phone and dialed her for the seventh time, hoping to get her. "Morgan, please tell me you aren't trying to drown yourself! No, I can't lose you Morgan, please. I love you, I don't want you to die." Champ left the car and closed his phone, he then skimmed the shoreline with his eyes and frowned, he didn't see Morgan anywhere.

He then walked toward the shoreline and frowned, he prayed that she didn't already dive in. If he did, he was going down there and he was going to get her out of the water. As he got closer, he saw a pile of clothes and a pair of shoes sitting next to the shoreline, his eyes widened as he realized they belonged to Morgan. "NO!" Champ cussed and ran toward the water, taking off his shirt and tossing it toward the ground and throwing his cell phone onto the shirt.

"Damn it." He took a deep breath and held it as he dove into the water. _"I_ refuse_ to let you die on me!"_ Champ wasn't sure where she was, but he didn't care, he would search the entire lake floor for her. _"I'll look for you until my dying breath."_ As he swam toward the bottom, he could see a trail of bubbles shooting up, he could only imagine it to be Morgan. _"That's her, I know it is. I'm coming!"_ Champ kicked his legs and started moving his arms through at a faster pace, he knew that he was short on time.

_"Morgan can hold her breath for four minutes. I'm not sure how long it'll take for her to drown, but I have to get to her before then."_ Champ knew that he could hold his breath for three and a half minutes, and he'd already spent the half part of that getting toward the bottom. Once he reached the bottom, he could see a flash of brown hair flailing in the water. _"Morgan!"_ She was still alive, and it looked like she was trying to get free from something.

Champ glanced down and saw her leg shooting up, he could tell that she was caught in something. _"Crap, she's trying to get loose from it. Did she change her mind and get caught?"_ He swam toward her and saw her leg slow and finally stop moving. _"No…"_ He made it toward the vine that held her leg in place and grabbed her ankle with one hand. Thinking quickly, he tore the vine from her leg and wrapped his strong arm around her waist, pulling her close to his chest. _"I can make it."_

Champ started kicking his legs and using his other arm to swim upwards, hew as swimming as fast as he could. _"Dear God, I know you're there. Please, I don't care what happens after this, just hear my plea. Don't take her from me, God, please don't let her die."_ It was then that Champ opened his mouth, taking in a lot of water. _"No!"_ He couldn't give in, he wasn't about to give in. _"God, I don't care what happens to me, just let Morgan live!"_ Suddenly someone else started swimming toward him, it looked a lot like Derek. He thought he was hallucinating.

Derek placed his hand over Morgan's mouth, stopping the water from going in. He looked at Champ and smiled. "Take good care of her, Champ. Get her out of here and protect her," Derek said. He then swam into Champ's body and gave him an extra burst of strength. Champ then continued to swim, only swimming faster than he had been before. In what seemed like forever, but was only a matter of seconds, Champ finally reached the surface. He pulled Morgan up and rested her chin on his shoulder as he swam toward the shore, he wasn't going to give up.

He reached the shore and managed to carry Morgan away from the water. _"Damn it, don't you die on me."_ Champ checked Morgan's pulse and gave a sigh of relief, it was still there, but faint. _"I'm not going to let you go."_ Champ tilted Morgan's head back and placed his ear over her mouth to check for breathing. The breathing wasn't normal. Thinking fast, and thankful for having taken classes in CPR, he began. He opened her mouth and pinched her nose while placing his mouth over hers and giving a full one second breath. He then blew in again for one second and watched for her chest to rise, it did not.

_"I'm not going to let you die, Morgan. I'm not letting you slip away, not you. You're the only one I have left."_ Champ placed his hand in the middle of her chest and covered his hand with his other. He then began the chest compressions, pushing in 1 ½-2 inches thirty times at a speed of 100 per minute, as taught in CPR class. Upon finishing the compressions, he gave two more rescue breaths, then began the compressions again. _"Come on Morgan, damn it! Wake up!"_

He continued the CPR for what seemed like an eternity, but it had only been two minutes. Even still, he was no closer to giving up. Finally, Morgan's body shook, though it was very slight. As slight as it was, Champ still noticed the movement. He stopped the CPR and looked toward Morgan, seeing the color returning to her face. _"I don't care what anyone says, but the color going back to her face may just be the most beautiful thing ever."_ It was, since it told him that she was alive. Morgan coughed and water shot out of her mouth.

With that, Morgan let out a moan and opened her eyes, not sure what had happened. She glanced over and saw Champ looking at her, and never before had she felt so thrilled to see him. She tried to sit up and Champ placed his hand on her back, helping her to sit up straight. "Champ…I'm so sorry, I don't know what I was thinking," Morgan said while looking down. Champ sighed and quickly grabbed his shirt and cell phone, he placed his phone on the ground and wrapped his shirt around her. Luckily, it was enough to provide some warmth for her.

"Don't worry, I'm just glad you're safe." Morgan glanced over and saw that Champ had a very concerned look on his face, she took a breath and felt him wrap his arms around her. "Morgan, you know I'm here to talk to you whenever you need something."

"I know." She wiped her eyes and buried her head in his chest, letting out a sob. "I was just so pressured."

"I know you were, we all are." Champ ran his hand through Morgan's hair and let out a soft sigh, he was not going to let her go. "I miss him as much as you do, Derek was my best friend. Mr. Stewie was the best coach in the world, and nothing can change what they meant to us. However, there was a reason they saved our lives that day. They wanted us to live, they wanted us to move on. Derek gave you a second chance at life, and while it's up to you to decide if you want to take it or not, you have several people who want you to take it. There's Susie, Freddie, and even all of our new friends."

"Yeah, I know…I figured that out and tried to swim back." Champ listened as Morgan talked, taking in what she was saying. "I wanted to live, Ricky, I wanted to live." Champ paused for a moment, it was one of the few times when she called him by his real name. She never did unless she was really upset or really angry, so it made sense.

"Yeah…"

"Believe me, I did. My foot got twisted in that vine, and then I opened my mouth. I was so scared…"

"It's okay, you're safe now. I'm not going to let something bad happen to you again. Never again…" Morgan sobbed once and felt Champ tighten his grip around her.

"I just thought I was always a burden to you, because of my grieving." Champ smiled at her and slowly shook his head.

"You can never be a burden to me, Morgan. We can grieve for Derek together, not alone. I want to tell you something…the one person who wants you alive most of all in this world, that's me." Morgan blinked and looked into Champ's eyes. "Morgan, I love you, simple as that. You mean the world to me, and I would be devastated if something happened to you."

"Champ…"

"The whole way down here, I couldn't think about anything other than your safety. I was so scared. I didn't know what to do if I had lost you. I don't want to go through that again, and I don't want you to ever have to be pushed to the point when you're ready to give up. I want to protect you, Morgan. I'm going to take care of you." Morgan could feel the tears running down her cheeks, she couldn't believe what she was hearing, it was almost too good to be true.

"Is this right?" Champ raised his eyebrow and Morgan let out a small sigh. "Is it right that I should fall in love with you. I dated Derek, we had something great going on there, and then he died. I think I'm still grieving for him."

"Then we can grieve for him together, okay? We'll both mourn, and maybe when you feel you're ready to move on, we can start dating. Just know that I will always be here for you." Morgan smiled and gazed into Champ's powerful eyes. A single tear fell from her eye and Champ lifted his hand to wipe it away.

"Thank you." Morgan rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes. She felt protected in his arms, and perhaps it was time to start moving on anyway. "Maybe we can start dating now."

"Are you sure?" Morgan slowly nodded her head and smiled.

"Yes."

"Then, what are you doing tomorrow?"

"Nothing…"

"Will you go out with me tomorrow? Perhaps we can go to dinner?"

"That sounds perfect." Champ smiled and gently kissed Morgan's forehead. He glanced over at Morgan's clothes and looked back to her, it was then that he realized that she was only wearing her bra and underwear. "Thanks for saving my life." Champ smiled and kissed her forehead.

"You know, it's very tempting to kiss you right now, but I don't want to take advantage of the situation. I think it would be a good idea to get dressed and take you home where you can warm up." Morgan blushed when she remembered that she didn't have her clothes on, so she quickly agreed with Champ. He helped her to slowly stand up. Morgan rubbed her arms together and watched as Champ picked up her clothes. This time, the sand on the beach felt warm and comforting, almost like new life.

* * *

I hope you liked it. It was a bit racy, I hope I managed to get you to feel the rush and the fear that Champ was going through. If I have, I have succeeded.


	18. Casanova: Romantic Rivals

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 18 (Casanova: Romantic Rivals)

"You mean Freddie's old girlfriend came by?" Shane asked as he looked toward Carly, raising his eyebrow. Carly nodded and Shane rubbed his chin. "So, he's spending all his time with her, and no time with Sam? I thought he liked Sam, what do you think is holding him back?"

"Susie obviously," Carly replied. She shrugged and walked over to her kitchen. "I'm pretty sure Susie's got him all taken up."

"Man, that's too bad." He tapped his chin lightly and glanced to the side. "We should fix that, since you say Sam likes him." Carly raised her eyebrow and Shane pulled himself up, smirking to himself. There was a reason he and Carly were not dating, and that was because of the trouble that happened so long ago. They simply remained friends, whereas Freddie and Shane did not. "Why does Freddie not like me anymore? Do you have any ideas on that?" Carly shrugged and opened the refrigerator door.

"I don't really know, but it could have something to do with rivalries." Shane raised his eyebrow and tilted his head to the side, watching as Carly took a soda can out and opened it. She put the lip of the can to her lips and swallowed a few sips of the soda. "You proved to be his romantic rival, and of course, you liked one of the people that he liked. You're worse than Rueben in a way, because he knows that there's always that chance that Sam will go to you, but she will never go out with Rueben. Why are you concerned anyway?"

"Oh, no reason…" Carly tilted her head and Shane crossed his arms over in thought, wondering if there was anything he could do for his situation. "I don't get why Freddie wouldn't ask her out, I mean, she's a beautiful girl." Carly nodded and walked over to the couch, she sat down and glanced at Shane as he became deep in thought. "Does Freddie ever come around here anymore?"

"Not all that often, actually…" Carly frowned and let out a small, bored sigh. "He actually spends most of his time with Susie and comes over here when iCarly is on."

"I see...well I have to get moving, so I'll talk to you later."

"Uh-huh." Carly smiled and pointed toward a bouquet of roses that was sitting on the table. "By the way, Spencer bought those for a date, but she stood him up. Maybe you can get rid of them or something." Shane nodded and took the bouquet from the desk. "Thanks, see you later, Shane." Shane nodded and walked out of the apartment, he glanced over and saw Sam walking toward Carly's apartment door. She stopped and looked at him, blinking with surprise.

"Shane, are you here to see Carly?"

"Not really…" Shane spotted Freddie's apartment door crack open slightly, he smirked and looked into Sam's eyes. "Actually, I was just asking her advice on what to do with these roses. She told me I should give them to a beautiful girl." Sam eyed the roses and raised her eyebrow, there were a lot of roses bunched together in a beautiful bouquet. Freddie narrowed his eyes and scowled, not sure of what to make of the scene that was now unfolding before him.

"Yeah, you probably should."

"Then…" Shane smirked and held the bouquet forward. "I will." Sam blushed lightly and Freddie's eyes widened. Sam looked unsure of whether she wanted to accept the roses or not, it was a very nice gesture, but she didn't want a relationship with Shane, she wanted it with Freddie. Thinking back, though, Freddie was probably in a relationship with Susie. "Take them, they are for you."

"D-Don't you want to date Carly?"

"Carly? No, we're strictly friends." Freddie rolled his eyes and groaned inwardly, that wasn't something that sounded all that great to him. "Besides, I happen to like blondes rather well, and I believe you're very cute."

"Thanks…" Sam's blush increased and Freddie made a gagging motion. He hated watching this, but he had to see what was going to happen, he had to know why Shane was attempting to court Sam. "I'm still not sure if I should accept them, though. I mean...my heart-"

"Take them anyway." Shane placed the roses in Sam's arms and gave her a gentle smile. She felt the heat starting to rise and stared at the roses.

"Excuse me!" Sam quickly rushed into Carly's apartment, frantic, and not knowing what just happened. Shane smirked and glanced over as Freddie stepped out into the hall.

"What exactly are you doing?" Freddie asked while crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. Shane closed his eyes and smiled as he turned toward Freddie.

"Why, I'm courting Sam, of course." Freddie tilted his head to the side and Shane merely shrugged his shoulders. "She's a beautiful girl, Freddie. You can't begin to fathom how many guys are probably interested in her." Shane smirked and started walking off, feeling Freddie's glare.

_"Yeah, but you're not right for her. No person that likes to ride a Harley Motorcycle without a helmet can be right for her."_

"It's all in the game, Freddie!" Freddie raised his eyebrow as Shane stopped walking and glanced back at him. "You just have to play your cards right, and at the right moment. You should learn not to miss an opportunity, or another player will seize it." Freddie growled slightly as Shane chuckled and continued walking. Shane glanced over as Susie turned the corner and walked past him, raising her eyebrow at him. "Yo." Susie waved at him and walked over to Freddie, concerned about what Freddie was glaring at him for.

"So, what was that all about?" Susie asked. Freddie merely growled and turned toward his apartment door.

"I'd rather not talk about it right now," Freddie said while opening his door and entering. Susie crossed her arms and frowned as she glanced toward Carly's door, she sighed and knocked, waiting until Carly said to come in. She entered and found Sam sitting on the couch, staring at her roses. Carly spotted her and sighed.

"What are you doing here?" Carly asked as she crossed her arms. Susie smiled and chuckled nervously, she hoped to make some conversation with the girls.

"Um, Freddie seems a bit upset, I think he was talking to Shane just a second ago," Susie responded. Carly raised her eyebrow and Sam looked up, her face froze in shock, she wondered if Freddie had seen what had just happened, and hoped that he hadn't. Susie eyed the roses that Sam held in her hand and frowned, she had a feeling that Shane may have been the one who gave them to her. "Where did you get those roses from, if you don't mind me asking?" Sam shrugged and looked toward Susie, she didn't really want to talk to her, but at the same time, it didn't really matter.

"I got them from Shane," Sam stated while putting on a smile. She didn't want Susie to know that anything was bothering her, that would be like admitting defeat. Carly glanced over at Sam and back to Susie, nodding her head.

"Shane, like Freddie, is one of the more popular guys in school," Carly stated while crossing her arms. "He can be a bit of a tricky person, perhaps the term 'Casanova' works here."

"Casanova…."

"You know, the term is named after Giacomo Casanova. He lived in the seventeen hundreds and is sometimes referred to as the 'world's greatest lover.' He was so famous a womanizer was he that his name remains synonymous with the art of seduction." Susie raised her eyebrow and Sam continued to gaze at the roses that Shane handed her. "Shane is like that, he enjoys the idea of having women surround him…though he's not fond of when girls compete like mad over him, which was what Sam and I did to him. He likes the attention, and at the same time, he really doesn't like the heated competitions. Either way, I just want to remain friends with him, I know what he's like, so I don't get involved in such a way."

"I see, so he's pretty much a romantic." Carly nodded and Sam didn't shift her gaze, she wasn't really listening to the entire thing. "I thought that Rueben guy would have been like that."

"Yes and no. He tries his hardest to be a romantic, but he focuses solely on Sam. It's actually kind of depressing. Most Casanovas tend to be popular, and Rueben isn't all that popular." Carly glanced at Sam as the blonde haired girl stood up and walked into the kitchen. "You don't know a lot about Shane, so I recommend you not worry too much about getting involved with him. You're better off not, since if he is able to romance you, then you're already caught in his web."

"Yeah, I understand that much. I passed him in the hallway, and he seemed attractive enough." Carly closed her eyes and sighed, that was definitely something that Shane was gifted in. He used his attraction to pull in girls and get them interested in them. "So, is there anything else that I need to know about him? I don't think I want to go around being unprepared."

"There's really nothing more I can say…"

"Okay…well, I'm going to go now, I have some things I need to do. I _was_ going to visit Freddie, but he doesn't seem like he's going to want to talk."

"All right, whatever you say." Susie smiled and stepped out of the apartment, she closed the door just as Jake left Freddie's apartment. Both of them met each other's gaze and chuckled nervously.

"Hey Jake, I didn't know you were here." Jake rubbed the back of his neck and grinned.

"Yeah, I was visiting Freddie," Jake responded. He crossed his arms and sighed. "It seems like he has a headache, so I had to get out of there. He didn't want any disturbances." Susie frowned and glanced to the side, she had hoped to talk to Freddie.

"Okay…well, I'm fixing to go on a walk if you want to join me."

"Sure!" Jake grinned and Susie giggled in response. The two started walking and eventually made their way into the lobby, they ignored Lewbert's cries and made their way outside. They spotted Jonah in the distance, he was walking toward them and was red with anger. "Uh, what happened, Jonah?"

"Oh nothing, just some dude was flirting with Valerie," Jonah responded while crossing his arms. "I'm actually going to the gym, I guess you're not?"

"Nope, I'm going to join Susie on a walk." Jonah smirked as Susie gave a soft smile.

"Yeah, well you two have fun." Jonah patted Jake's shoulder and quickly walked away, fuming over what had happened. He had to find a way to ask Valerie out before someone else did, there was no doubt about that. Jake rubbed his chin and frowned, thinking about who might have been flirting with Valerie. It couldn't have been Shane, since Jonah would have said it. Jake glanced over and spotted Shane walking from the direction Jonah had come from, someone else was with him, but the dude started to walk away.

"Hey, how's it going?" Shane asked as he stopped next to Jake and Susie. He looked at her and smirked, sending a tingling sensation down her spine. "Yo." Jake narrowed his eyes and growled as he stepped in front of Susie, he felt he should protect her from Shane, since he knew full well that it would be bad for her to get involved with a guy like him. "What's wrong?"

"Go away, Casanova, we don't want you here," Jake said while holding his glare. Shane laughed and patted Jake on the shoulder.

"Don't worry dude, it's not like I'm going to steal away your girl or anything."

"You always….wait…what!" Jake's eyes widened and Susie blushed in response. "Hold on! She's not my…no, that's like…that's crossing the line, man!" Shane smirked and crossed his arms as he tilted his head to the side.

"Okay then, she's Freddie's girl. So she's off limits." Jake growled slightly and narrowed his eyes as he pointed a finger to Shane's chest.

"You listen here buddy, you stay away from the girls. You know who they are. No one wants a playboy like you around here."

"Seems to me that you are the playboy, after all, you are the pervert."

"Right, well at least I'm still a virgin!" Shane rolled his eyes and glanced to the side.

"Whatever dude, that's not any of your business…" Shane flashed Susie another smirk, causing her to blush and quickly look away. "Uh-huh. I'll talk to you guys later." Shane waved his hand in the air and walked away. Susie glanced up at Jake as he glared at Shane from behind, it looked like he wanted to rip the guy apart.

"Jake, relax, it's fine," Susie said while patting Jake's shoulder. "It's not like I can really get involved with him anyway. After all…it would be kind of stupid for me to get into a relationship…" Susie glanced downwards and shrugged as she smiled and looked to Jake. "So, what's one Casanova to everyone, anyway? He's just one guy who can't really do much." Jake frowned and shrugged his shoulders in response, he didn't have much to say, though he did feel a need to warn Susie.

"There are a quite a few of those Casanovas in the school. One of them is Shane. The others are Amber, Ashley, and a few friends that Shane has. Really, there's probably no huge concern to worry about." Chances were more likely that Shane's friends were the one that flirted with Valerie, since Jonah would have mentioned Shane's name had it been him. "Whatever, let's just continue on our walk."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun." Susie smiled and the two people continued to walk down the street, talking and joking around with each other.

* * *

Well, it seems Shane may prove to be a bit of trouble. We don't see it now, but what will happen in the future? I guarantee, you're in for a bit of a ride.


	19. Close Call

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 19 (Close Call)

Rueben and Shannon were both at the library, watching Freddie and Sam. It seemed that Susie managed to convince Freddie to go to the library with Sam, and now the two were doing pretty much nothing at all. "Doesn't this make us look like stalkers?" Rueben asked as he sat at the table. He had a bored expression on his face.

"Well what do you suggest?" Shannon asked while raising her eyebrow. "Take a look; both people we want are right here!" Rueben stared at Shannon and looked over to where Sam was; he shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms.

"Yeah, my girl is right here. So, what's the plan of action? We're in a public library, and if we tick off Freddie, it's probably not going to end well." Shannon laughed lightly and slowly shook her head, she wasn't afraid of ticking off Freddie, since he only got mad whenever he was around Susie.

"Don't worry, we just need to make Sam and Susie look bad in front of him, and he won't be attracted to them anymore! Then he'll date me!" Rueben paused for a minute and rolled his eyes in response.

"Yeah, I'm sure that'll happen. Just how _easy_ do you think it's going to be?" Shannon smirked an folded her arms over her chest, she was pretty sure of herself, so she wasn't worrying. Rueben sighed and glanced over to see Shane sitting at another table, reading some book with his friends. "Hey Shannon, its Shane at four o'clock." Shannon raised her eyebrow and glanced over, she shrugged and looked back to Freddie.

"I don't care about him or his friends." Shane had three friends with him, and they were all romantics. There was the spiky blond haired guy, Brian. Then the curly haired brunette, Vash, and finally there was the spiky haired brunette, Jason. The three friends were glancing over at Shannon and Rueben, but were staring at Shannon as if they were a pack of dogs eyeing a steak. "Okay, so we can take these scissors and cut a huge chunk out of Sam's hair!" Rueben raised his eyebrow and imagined Shannon trying to do that.

"Uh, yeah…I think you'd get caught before you got close." Shannon raised her eyebrow and stared at Rueben as if he had just grown another head. "I'm just saying…you can try it if you want, but I don't think you're going to get very far." Shannon narrowed her eyes and scoffed lightly, not believing that Rueben actually thought her idea wasn't going to work. She stared at Freddie and Sam, blinking and pausing in thought. She then tried to imagine herself cutting off Sam's hair with a pair of scissors, and failing miserably.

"Damn, you're right." Shannon sighed and narrowed her eyes, she hated being wrong. "Well, do you have any _better_ ideas?"

"How about something that won't piss Freddie off when you do it." Shannon raised her eyebrow and Rueben laughed, knowing it would be extremely hard not to get Freddie upset. "You could just get him alone and ask him out."

"Aha! I can get him alone and plant a kiss on him! That way Sam will be distraught and leave, then you can have her." Rueben frowned and glanced to the side, he wasn't too sure of that idea. "Anyway, I need to go to the restroom real fast."

"Alright, see you in a minute." Shannon nodded and got up from her seat and walked toward the bathroom area. Rueben sighed and glanced over, seeing Brian get up from his seat. He raised his eyebrow and watched as Brian left the table.

_"I need a drink, actually."_ Shannon thought as she shifted her eyes toward the water fountain. It sat right in between the two bathroom doors, making an easy access for people. She bent over and started drinking from the water, it was cool and fresh tasting. When Shannon stood up, she turned around and yelped as she nearly ran into Brian. "Hey, watch where you're going."

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," Brian said as he smiled softly. Shannon raised her eyebrow and stared at him in disbelief, she had no clue how he could miss her.

"What? Am I invisible, or something?"

"No, but I must say, I don't know how I could have missed such a beautiful lady." Shannon kept her eyebrow raised as she stared into Brian's eyes. "I've been watching you from afar, and I think you're very beautiful. Do you think you'll go out with me?"

"Uh, let me think for a moment, no!" Shannon smiled and started to walk toward the girl's bathroom, but stopped when Brian took hold of her arm. She scowled and looked back toward him. "Hey, let me go." Swiftly, Brian pulled her close, causing her to gasp and shout out just as he planted his lips to hers. She groaned and started trying to push him away, but he held her tightly. She grunted and her eyes widened as Brian's hands moved down toward her butt. "Let me go!" Brian soon pressed her back against a wall and started kissing her neck.

"And leave a beauty like you all alone? Never, I am afraid I can't do that." Shannon pushed at his chest again and growled, but wasn't strong enough to push him off of her. By now, she had tears of frustration and fear escaping her eyes, this was not in her plans. "You're such a beautiful flower, I'm surprised that no man has already taken you for his own, perhaps you'll allow me to do that."

"No!"

"Hey!" A voice shouted. Shannon whimpered slightly and Brian glanced back, seeing Rueben staring him down. "She asked you to let her go, so let her go."

"What are you going to do?" Brian asked as he narrowed his eyes.

"You can let her go, or we do this like they do it in Texas."

"Whoa cowboy, I didn't mean any harm." Brian chuckled and released Shannon, smirking as he held his hands in the air. Shannon quickly ran over to Rueben and started to sob into his shirt. "It's not like I was going to do anything, or anything. I was just having a little fun, that's all." Rueben narrowed his eyes and glared at Brian. "Whatever, little dude, I'll just go mind my own business, I think Shane and the others are fixing to leave."

"Then leave, now." A growl escaped Rueben's throat and Brian smirked while walking past him. Rueben kept his glare on Brian until he was sure the guy was gone. With that, he lightly rubbed Shannon's back, letting her get all her tears out. He spoke to her with a soft voice. "Hey, it's okay now, nothing else can happen."

"Why was that bastard doing that?"

"He won't do any more." Rueben sighed as he felt Shannon's body shaking, it was this that caused him not to like Brian or the others with him.

"Whatever, I'm fine now…" Rueben nodded as Shannon started to wipe her eyes, she was going to try her best to not let what just happened get to her. "Rueben let me go, please." Rueben nodded and complied with her wishes. Shannon frowned and looked toward the main area of the library, the bathroom area was inside, so she couldn't see out. "I'm going to go to the restroom now."

"Will you be okay?"

"Yes, now quit asking." Shannon hurried into the bathroom and Rueben leaned against the wall, crossing his arms.

_"Brian's a coward…"_ Rueben closed his eyes and waited until Shannon exited the bathroom, she looked at him and he merely frowned. "Come on, we should get you home."

"No! I can still win Freddie over!" Rueben rubbed his forehead and sighed, he didn't think Shannon would be in the emotional position to try and deal with Freddie.

"You need to rest up, we all do." He knew that Shannon was most likely going to try and convince him to stick around so they could try and win Freddie over, Sam as well. "Do you really want to stick around here?"

"If Freddie's here, then I'm fine." Rueben sighed and shrugged his shoulders. It seemed important to get her home, because most likely her emotional state was pretty bad. "I just want to get Freddie to like me, is that so wrong?"

"No…" Rueben sighed and crossed his arms over and sighed. "If you're that set on winning his heart, that's fine, but do you really want to do it right now?"

"Yes." Shannon walked past Rueben and he followed her. She took a look over and saw Brian sitting at the table with Shane, she froze up and a sick look came over her face. Rueben saw this and took her hand, causing her to blush slightly and looked over toward him. "What are you doing?"

"We need to get you home. You can win Freddie over on another day, okay?" Shannon gasped lightly as Rueben started pulling her away from the library. "I don't think you should be around the library when that guy is there." Shannon shrugged and gave a defeated sigh, she really had no choice.

"Fine, but let go of my hand." Rueben blinked and looked down, he frowned and quickly released her hand. "Okay, let's go home…" Rueben nodded and walked with Shannon toward her home.

* * *

Shannon doesn't know what she has with Rueben, she needs to get her sights off Freddie. Shane and his friends are creeps, that's for sure.


	20. Hanging Out

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 20 (Hanging Out)

"So, you two are together now?" Susie asked as she looked toward Champ and Morgan. She smiled as they nodded their heads in response. "I'm so happy for you!" The group was at the mall, and this was one of those times when Freddie wasn't with Susie. "I was actually wondering how to get you two to start dating. You two are perfect for each other."

"Well, you are the one with an eye for romance," Morgan said while laughing lightly. "I think Champ is going to be very sweet to me." Champ smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, letting her rest her head on his shoulder as the group walked down the hall. "Why are you concerned with making everyone happy, though? You really don't need to do that, it just adds extra stress. Make yourself happy, you've got a great future ahead of you!" Susie shrugged her shoulders and looked straight ahead, a sorrowful look forming at her face.

"I feel good when I make others happy, Morgan. I think if I make everyone else happy, then I'll be happy. I really do need to be a happier person, you know." Champ laughed and slowly shook his head; he thought Susie was a very happy person.

"Susie, you're probably the happiest person I know," Champ said while smiling at his friend. "Either that, or you're very good at hiding sadness. If you give all that happiness to everyone around you, then there won't be any left for you. Besides, people can find happiness on their own, at times." Champ gave Morgan a knowing look and smiled, Susie merely raised her eyebrow and became confused.

"Is there something I should know about?" Morgan looked at Susie and frowned, she shook her head and sighed. She knew that if she told Susie about her near death, it would be horrible for her. That was the last thing she wanted to put on her friend. Susie's eyes filled with concern for her friends, thinking that something bad had happened. "Nothing bad happened, did it? I get this feeling that something bad happened, did anything bad happen to you?"

"Well, it depends on how you look at it," Morgan responded. She gave Susie a sheepish smile and her eyes quickly darted to the side. "I don't really want to tell you, because it might be too much." Susie rolled her eyes and slowly shook her head, she didn't think she needed to be sheltered from the bad stuff.

"Morgan, you're my best friend, and I want you to tell me what happened. I mean, if you don't want to, I guess that's fine, but I still would like to know." Morgan glanced down and sighed, she figured there really wasn't much she could do about it anyway.

"I almost drowned." Susie gasped and her eyes widened considerably. "I thought I wanted to die and I went into the water, but then I changed my mind and tried to leave, but my foot got stuck. If Champ hadn't been searching for me…who knows what would have happened." Susie's mouth fell and Champ's arm tightened around Morgan's waist. It was a sore topic to talk about, and it did affect Susie. Upon hearing the news, her heart started to beat really fast, but faster than the fear would normally make it.

"Oh my god, you could have _died_. Thank god you didn't!" Susie quickly hugged Morgan and felt the tears leave her eyes. "I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you." Morgan smiled at Susie as her friend let go of her and sighed. Susie didn't really feel her heart pulsing at a fast rate, but she never really could tell. Though, whenever it did, it was probably not a good thing. "I'm sorry to bring up such a painful time, so let's move on to something more pleasant! Tell me, how was your first date?"

"It was good…" Susie smiled and looked around, seeing a nearby sporting shop.

"So, do you guys want to go look at the sporting goods? I know how much you love sporting goods." Champ raised his eyebrow and Morgan spotted a comic book store near the side.

"Why don't we go in the comic store, you know how much you enjoy comic books." Susie blinked for a second and shrugged her shoulders, she didn't really care for comics all that much lately. In fact, she didn't care about a lot of stuff that used to please her.

"Nah, I'd rather do something that makes you guys happy." Morgan frowned and placed her hands on Susie's shoulders.

"Hello, earth to Susie, this isn't about us. This is about spending time with you and you being the happy one." Susie chuckled and rubbed the back of her head, she didn't really want her friends to go all out like that. "Besides, we like comic books too." Susie raised her eyebrow and crossed her arms, smirking at her friend.

"Since when?"

"Uh…" Morgan tapped her chin and Susie merely laughed, taking Morgan's wrist.

"Come on, maybe we can go to the mall arcade!" That sounded like a good plan to everyone, so they nodded and hurried toward the arcade in the mall. "You know, you guys are really good friends. Valerie's a good friend too, but I wish Sam would talk to me. Though I can kind of understand why she wouldn't want to talk to me…"

"Why is that?" Morgan looked over toward the food court and saw the ice cream shop open, she smirked and looked toward the others. "Let's get some ice cream first!" She took Susie's hand and pulled her friend toward the ice cream shop, Champ laughed and followed after.

"I'll get you guys the ice cream," Champ said while looking toward the menu. "What flavors do you girls want?"

"I want Rocky Road and Mint Chocolate Chip!"

"Okay, and for you Susie?" Susie stared down toward the ground and slowly shook her head.

"No, I can't have any ice cream."

"Why not?" Morgan asked as she gave her friend a concerned look. "You're missing out, are you sure you don't want any?"

"It's not that…it's just that I can't have any." Susie placed her hand on her stomach and sighed, there was a lot of stuff that she couldn't have or do ever since the tragedy at Hamm Lake. She had learned that getting that smoothie was a bad idea.

"I don't understand, you always loved ice cream." Susie smiled cheerfully at Morgan and shrugged her shoulders.

"It doesn't matter. I've just not been feeling well today, and so ice cream would just make me feel bad."

"Oh…well, I don't think I'll have any ice cream then."

"No! Don't do that on the account of me, it's fine. I'll be able to eat ice cream tomorrow!" Morgan was reluctant to agree, but did eventually. She would still feel bad about it, though. "Champ, get Morgan some ice cream."

"Okay…if you really don't want any," Champ said while walking toward the counter and pulling out his wallet. Morgan frowned and looked toward Susie, wondering what could possibly be upsetting her friend so much that she didn't want any ice cream. Champ soon walked back with an ice cream cone, he smiled and handed it to Morgan. "Here you go."

"Thanks Champ," Morgan replied. She licked the ice cream and glanced over at Susie, she was looking elsewhere. "Hey Susie, you and Freddie aren't going to date?"

"No," Susie responded. "I told him that I wanted him to move on, I _think_ Sam wants to date him, as well as he wants to date her." Susie smiled and glanced over at Morgan, she eyed the ice cream and then looked away. "Those two make a great couple. Also, I think Shannon and Rueben would make a nice couple." Morgan laughed and shrugged her shoulders, she hadn't thought of those two ever making a good couple, but then Susie was usually right whenever it came to romance. It just seemed natural, that she had an eye for that kind of stuff.

"Think you'll ever get a boyfriend, Susie?" Champ asked while smirking. He and Morgan always enjoyed teasing her about that, and she usually just laughed it off. "I think you've been single for quite some time, let's try to get you dating someone. Besides, Morgan and I are dating, we don't want you being the third wheel." Susie laughed and shook her head, she didn't feel like it was all that necessary to have a boyfriend at the time. Morgan playfully slapped Champ and took another bite of her ice cream. "So, what do you say, you want us to hook you up with someone?"

"No, that'll come in the future, most likely. I wouldn't mind going on a date with…uh, nevermind." Susie chuckled nervously and Morgan raised her eyebrows, smirking at her friend.

"What was that?" Morgan asked while leaning toward her friend. Susie put up her hands and chuckled nervously. "You have your eyes set on someone already? Whose heart do _you_ want to win, Susie?" Champ laughed at the display and crossed his arms, he knew Morgan was going to try to weed out the person Susie wanted to date, and hook them up.

"It's nobody, really!"

"Are you _sure_?" Susie laughed and looked to the side, seeing Jake walking out of a mall department store.

"Hey look! It's Jake!" Susie quickly darted past Morgan and toward Jake. Morgan sighed and looked at Champ.

"You get the feeling she likes Jake more than us?"

"Well she's been hanging with Freddie and Jake quite often," Champ stated with a shrug. "I'd be betting that's the guy she's interested in." Morgan smirked and tapped her chin, grinning deviously. "Hey Morgan…"

"What?" Champ leaned close to Morgan, causing her to blush lightly. "What are you doing?" He spotted the ice cream on Morgan's nose and gently kissed her nose, causing her blush to increase. This action removed the ice cream.

"I just felt like giving you a little kiss." Morgan closed her eyes and chuckled. At this rate, he would make her turn giddy. She often wondered what it would be like to actually grace his lips with hers, but she was still too scared to try. She wasn't sure if she was ready for that step yet, but she knew that when she was ready, she would know it. "Hey look, who is that guy walking toward Susie and Jake?" Champ pointed and Morgan followed his gaze, the person was Jason.

"That's Jason, one of Shane's friends, I think." Champ sighed and rubbed his forehead, he had heard of Shane and his friends, and he was greatly annoyed with them. The one thing he was thankful for, was they couldn't try to flirt with Morgan, since she was with him. The two watched as Jason started to flirt with Susie, but she wasn't having that, and neither was Jake, apparently. Jake had clenched his fists and was close to punching Jason in the face. When Jason saw this, he quickly perceived the threat and left.

"You know, something tells me Jake likes her…" Champ rubbed his chin and smirked, knowing that if that were the case, Susie would probably be happy with it. "You think Freddie wouldn't mind? I know he's a bit odd when it comes to best friends getting together with an Ex or a romantic interest."

"I don't know how he'd take it, it'd probably help to ask him." Morgan watched as Jake and Susie interacted, she thought she saw Susie blush. "Okay, that girl likes him, simple as that. If Freddie's got a problem with it, then that's too bad!" Champ laughed as Morgan appeared ready to go tell the two that they needed to get together. She would have done that too, but thought better of it.

"It's possible that we shouldn't meddle in the affairs of others."

"Ah, what do you know?" Morgan smirked and glanced over at Champ as he turned his head toward her. Her eyes locked with his powerful gaze and soon, his eyes seemed to draw her in. "Of course, your meddling saved my life…" Morgan breathed in and Champ lowered his voice to a soft tone.

"I couldn't let you go, Morgan. You mean too much to me, I love you too much to let you die."

"I guess that makes you my hero." Champ smirked slightly, causing Morgan to blush. She felt the heat starting to rise in her body, and soon their lips met. Morgan closed her eyes as Champ placed his hands on her waist. The couple did not catch the flash or hear the clicking sound next to them, for they did not care. They were in their own world. They parted lips and held each other's gaze, not daring to avert their eyes from the other. "I love you, Champ."

Another clicking sound was heard, and a flash lit the area, catching the couple's attention. The two looked over to see Susie with a camera in her hand and a wide grin on her face, Jake stood next to her, smiling as well. "Wow, I leave you two for just a little moment, and you two start kissing. This is _definitely_ going in my scrapbook!" Morgan blinked and Champ laughed as he turned toward Susie. They didn't know that Susie was making a scrapbook. "It's for my mom and dad, I'm making a memoir of every great thing that happens with me, as well as all my friends."

"Awesome, do you think we'll get to see it when you're done?" Champ asked as he placed his arm around Morgan's waist. She was still trying to process what had just happened. She had kissed Champ, and she didn't even know if she was ready. If it happened, then that had to mean she was ready for such a thing, but she hoped that she wouldn't have to forget Derek. "I know I can't wait to see the finished work."

"Yeah, I'll be sure to show it to you guys. So much seems to have happened today…" Susie smiled as she placed her camera inside her pocket. She then frowned and placed her hand over her stomach, not feeling too well. "Ugh, I may be getting the flu or something, I need to call my mom and head home." The group nodded and watched as Susie went to a table and pulled out her cell phone. She dialed her mom's number and started talking. "Yeah, hey mom…No, don't worry. I'm just feeling a little sick…I'm fine, really. I think I need you to pick me up, though. Mom, seriously, you don't have to cry, it's not like I'm horribly sick or anything. Probably just the flu, yes my friends are around…no, only Freddie knows…No mom. Just pick me up." Susie hung up the phone and sighed.

"Hey, what was that all about?" Jake asked as he stepped next to Susie. She smiled and looked up at Jake.

"Oh don't worry about it, Mom just overdoes it with her worrying. You get a little stomach virus, flu, or whatever, and she flies off the handle." Jake laughed lightly and shrugged his shoulders.

"Yeah, that's similar to Mrs. Benson."

"That's true." Susie glanced forward and frowned, she didn't want to leave her friends early, but it had to be done. "I guess I'll see you guys a bit later." Morgan and Champ walked over and smiled at her.

"Yeah, it was fun spending the day with you," Morgan said while giving Susie a hug. "I can't wait to do this again. You know, you never did tell us why you thought Sam wouldn't like you…" Susie sighed and crossed her arms over, frowning.

"She likes Freddie, so she probably thinks I'm trying to steal him away from her, that's why."

* * *

Yeah, it's a shame, cause Susie wants to be friends with Sam. Susie's mom seems interesting. Morgan and Champ had their first kiss, that's nice. I hope you liked this, stick around for the next chapter.


	21. A Heated Moment

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 21 (A Heated Moment)

"Thanks for coming," Valerie said to Sam while giving her friend a hug. Her new webshow was starting up, and she wanted Sam to be here to see it. Sam, of course, was having a little trouble because Susie was there. Yet, there wasn't anything she could do about it, since it wasn't her call to make.

"You know I wouldn't miss it for the world," Sam replied. She smiled as Valerie walked toward the center of the room, standing next to Susie. Freddie was there as well. He was talking to Jonah, and giving him pointers about all the tech equipment. Sam looked over at Freddie and sighed, rolling her eyes in slight impatience. "Hey dork! How about you stop transforming your best friend into a geek like you, and let's watch them do their show!" Freddie stopped talking to Jonah and narrowed his eyes. Jonah merely gave a light laugh and shrugged his shoulders.

"They ask me why I love her," Freddie said in a quiet voice. He sighed and looked over at Sam; she was now watching Valerie and Susie talk. He felt a wave of emotion run through him. It was as though he were staring at the world's greatest piece of art. She was a beauty, perhaps the most ravishing creature on the planet. He loved the way her golden curls scraped on her back, and how everything about her accentuated her beautiful personality. Freddie took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "I love everything about her." Jonah lifted his hand and snapped his fingers, pulling Freddie back into reality.

"Hey, I hope you're not going to stare at her all day," Jonah said while laughing and patting his friend's shoulder. "Though I get why you would, I can't stop gazing at Valerie." Freddie nodded and Jonah looked toward Valerie, soon becoming intoxicated by her beauty. "My god she's beautiful. I don't deserve her. I don't deserve that second chance, but I can't help but think on just how beautiful she is, and how much I want that second chance to do right." Freddie smiled and patted Jonah's shoulder, trying to give him comfort.

"Hey, you can do it. You deserve every chance to be happy, and I believe it would make her happy. Don't you think she deserves to be happy?" Jonah nodded and Freddie started to walk over toward Sam. "Do what you have to do. Good luck on the technical stuff, I'll be watching." Freddie crossed his arms and smirked at Jonah. "You're my best friend and definitely smart, so let's see how well you are at this stuff. It's a tough job, so no pressure! I don't mean to scare you, but be careful about all those cables!"

"Okay Freddie, shut up, please!" Freddie laughed and Jonah walked over to the camera. Valerie and Susie were giggling at what had just happened. "Okay, no pressure girls, this is our first webcast! I'm the tech producer, and you two are the stars." Freddie laughed and nudged Sam in the side, smirking. She looked at him and raised her eyebrow, watching as Freddie put his hands up to his mouth.

"Come on Jonah, no one cares, get the show started! You know the countdown, or are you suffering from first time jitters?" Susie laughed and Jonah glared at Freddie. He coughed lightly and turned back to the girls.

"Okay, well then…" The door opened and everyone looked over as Shane and his friend, Vash, entered the basement. "Why are they here?"

"We're here for the live musical performance," Shane responded. Jonah raised his eyebrow and stared at the piano in the basement. "I am going to play the piano, while Vash here sings a song." Jonah looked at Valerie with confusion and she merely smiled, shrugging her shoulders.

"He can sing," Valerie stated in a quiet voice. "He wanted to sing, and he gave me thirty dollars, so I accepted. What could it hurt?"

_"A lot, maybe my dignity or ego,"_ Jonah thought while rolling his eyes back slightly. Freddie felt his hand tighten as he glanced over at Sam, she was staring at Shane.

"I didn't know you could play the piano," Sam stated, her voice showing how impressed she was.

_"Of course you didn't,"_ Freddie thought. He and Jonah both sighed, not really wanting to make it seem like they cared. Susie frowned and caught both of them in this act, she would have agreed if they asked for the other men to leave.

"They can play," Jonah said, defeated. "Let's begin, now."

"Okay!" Valerie said. Jonah started the camera and Valerie smiled widely at the camera. "I'm Valerie, and this is my new friend and co host, Susie!" Valerie pointed at Susie, who smiled and became energetic.

"I'm Susie! If you're wondering who I am, I'm an old friend of Freddie. No, Valerie and I aren't teaming up to try and take him down, either!" Freddie chuckled and Sam nearly fell over laughing. Though they did wonder why she didn't go ahead and say she was an old girlfriend of his. "So Valerie, what are we going to start off with?"

"Well, I'm glad you asked. Starting off, we have a musical guest, for our _first ever webshow!"_ Valerie smiled as Shane and Vash walked in front of the camera, only Susie caught the scowls on the other boy's faces. Valerie clapped her hands together and chuckled nervously. "So…Shane, Vash, what song will you two be doing?"

"The song will be Because of you, by Tony Bennett," Vash stated while taking a microphone from his jacket.

"Ooh, you carry a microphone with you, how…handy." Vash laughed and slowly shook his head.

"No, I don't normally carry it with me, I'm just carrying it with me right now." His voice seemed naturally smooth and clear, it made Jonah want to puke.

_"Why that song?"_ Jonah thought as he narrowed his eyes. _"Couldn't you play a hard metal song, perhaps? Maybe something that _isn't_ going to be sweet, romantic, and sweeping Valerie…oh damn." _Jonah looked at Freddie with a fearful look, Freddie returned the look and swallowed lightly. He didn't think that Vash or Shane would possibly sweep the girls off their feet, but if they did, that would be their greatest fear.

"Great, so let's hear you play!" Valerie said with an energetic voice.

_"Let's not_…"Vash nodded as Shane walked over to the piano and began playing the music. Vash shook his arms in front of him and flashed a smirk at Valerie, causing her to blush. _"Disgusting, don't make her blush!"_ Vash then took a breath and began singing the smooth lyrics.

"Because of you, there's a song in my heart." Valerie smiled as Vash sung, she had always loved the song. Susie merely sat on a stool and crossed her arms, smiling, but still not liking what was going on. "Because of you, my romance had its start."

_"God this is disgusting,"_ Jonah thought as he clenched his teeth together.

"Because of you, the sun will shine, the moon and stars will say you're mine…Forever, and never to part." Jonah watched with wide eyes as Vash took Valerie's hand in his and gazed into her eyes, continuing to softly sing. "I only live for your love and your kiss…" Valerie blushed once more and shook her head, trying to rid herself of the blush. "It's paradise to be near you like this."

_"Get your grimy hands _off_ of her!"_ Freddie felt sick as well, seeing that Sam too was getting lost in the song. He looked at Jonah, as if to tell him to just relax and try to grin and bear it.

"Because of you, my life is now worthwhile. And I can smile, because of you." The instrumental break came, and Vash softly kissed Valerie's hand, causing Jonah's eyes to widen. Susie winced slightly and glanced toward the side, she knew this wasn't going to go over well. Jonah felt the rage starting to seep through his body, but he knew there wasn't anything that he could do but watch as someone tried to sweep Valerie off her feet.

It wouldn't be a bad thing, and he could try to be happy, if only he didn't know Shane and his friends could probably have several girlfriends at once. Now it was Shane's turn to finish up the song, he switched places with Vash, and the two never missed a note.

"Wow, that's impressive and talented," Sam said in a quiet voice. Freddie shifted his eyes over and frowned as Shane continued to sing. It seemed that Shane was singing to Sam, and gazing deeply into her eyes. Freddie personally felt sick. He was ready to punch Shane out, but he knew it would be wrong to do such a thing.

Soon the song was over. Both boys stood straight and bowed, taking in the applause from everyone in the room, as half hearted as it was. The girls appeared quite taken by the performance while the boys were feeling rather horrible. "That was wonderful, a great job," Valerie said while smiling politely. She turned to the camera and grinned. "What did you think? Did you not think that was just _perfect?_ Come on, let's give them another bit of applause." Everyone cheered awkwardly and applauded, hoping to be done with it.

"Thank you for having us," Shane said while smiling. He looked over to Sam and flashed his smile once more, causing the heat in her body to rise up. Freddie rolled his eyes and glanced toward the side, still hating what was happening. "So Sam, I'll see you Friday?"

"Yeah, see you at five," Sam responded. Freddie's mouth dropped and his eyes widened. Everyone else stared in shock as Shane and Vash smirked and walked out of the room. Freddie turned toward Sam and stared at her with a look of disbelief. "What? It's called a date, dork…I have my reasons." Sam looked toward the ground and sighed. _"You're always with Susie, you wouldn't love me, and Shane was the first one to ask me out. Though, I can not really say it feels right, but I think my heart won't break this time."_

"Sam, you don't know him!" Freddie exclaimed. His fear of her getting hurt rose through his body, he knew that if she dated Shane, she would get hurt.

"Oh come on, what does it matter, it's not like anything's going to happen."

"Sam, he's a bloody Casanova! He's a ladies man, a flirt, a pervert, and not someone you should hang out with!" By now, everyone was watching with concerned looks. They didn't want to see a fight break out. Sam shook her head and closed her eyes, keeping in the tears that threatened to come out.

"He asked me on a date, I couldn't refuse. Besides, can't you just be happy for me, Dork! I mean, what should it matter to you? It's not like you're ever going to care about me. Shane cares, he can make me happy."

"No he won't! He isn't capable of that! He can't make you happy, he doesn't know what you want."

"Like you do!" Sam's voice was reaching a new bout of anger. All of her pent up frustration was now starting to blow up. "Who are you to say what will make me happy all of a sudden? You can't know, you don't know! You think you're so smart, but in reality, you're the biggest idiot on earth! Leave me alone, Freddie. Don't worry about me."

"If you date him, he's going to hurt you worse than Jonah did!" Sam gasped and took a step back, Jonah winced at the memory and Susie mirrored Valerie's saddened look.

"You're so sure of yourself, Benson. Why don't you just try to be happy for me? Like I'm trying to be happy with you and your girlfriend…"

"Girlfriend? What? Sam, I'm just concerned, I'm trying to tell you, don't fall for his tricks! He's sly, he will hurt you! Don't get involved with him!"

"Don't tell me what to do!" Freddie raised his eyebrow and Sam quickly shoved Freddie to the side, nearly catching him off balance. "Leave me the hell alone. I know how to handle myself, and Shane probably won't hurt me more than…" She wanted to say 'you' but she stopped herself, she didn't want to bring up the fact that she ever liked him. Instead, she turned around and quickly left the basement, leaving the others in shock.

"Uh…maybe it's best to stop the…stop the recording, Jonah," Valerie said while moving her hand across her neck. "I'm sorry viewers, we'll start over again next week, I promise. We're just having some trouble right now, but don't worry…" Valerie sighed as Jonah quickly ended the show and turned toward Freddie. Freddie was still staring at where Sam left, shocked by what had just happened. He had no clue how he was going to get through to Sam, or if he even would. He knew he had to, though. He loved her, and he didn't want to see her hurt, not again. If he knew one thing, Shane would hurt her, and it wasn't going to be like Jonah, because Freddie was friends with Jonah and not Shane. That fact alone had to amount for something, and Sam just didn't see it.

* * *

Well, Sam has a date with Shane, and an argument appears to have taken place here. Hmm, stick around for the next chapter.


	22. Talking About Shane

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 22 (Talking about Shane)

"Freddie, what's wrong with Shane anyway?" Susie asked while stepping next to him. Freddie looked over at Valerie and Jonah, the group was now in the main living room. He wanted his friends to be able to answer for him, but he couldn't. They both knew why Freddie wasn't friends with Shane anymore, but no one really wanted to say it.

"It's just that simple, he's a bastard," Freddie replied while closing his eyes. "Shane and his little posse are nothing but cruel, selfish, vile hearted bastards who care nothing about anyone but themselves." Freddie clenched his fists up and growled. "They usually get what they want, and when they get it, they soon grow tired of it. I won't say much more, but I will say this much: Be glad Shane and his friends haven't set their sights on you." Susie frowned and shifted her eyes to the side, making a nervous sound. "What?"

"Actually, I think Jason's been trying to flirt with me lately." Freddie's jaw dropped and he quickly shook his head. That couldn't happen, it just couldn't.

"Whatever you do…stay the hell away from him. I don't know exactly which of his three friends are worse, but Jason isn't exactly the lesser of the three. Actually, I'd say Vash is the least problematic with Shane being the one who is…" Freddie's mouth formed a thin line and he rubbed his forehead, groaning in frustration and annoyance. "Shane's the worst of the group. I don't feel like talking about him right now…"

"I'm sorry for bringing up anything bad." Susie looked toward the ground and Freddie merely smiled at her. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug and patted her back.

"Don't worry, Susie. You didn't bring anything up." Freddie pulled back and let out a small sigh, he didn't want to overwork her or anything. "You just relax. I know you want to fix things, but stuff like this might put too much stress on you." Susie rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, she didn't really think Freddie needed to be that worried about her. "As for that list of things to do…I can't do any of those things right now."

"Oh, I understand, and I wouldn't want you too." Freddie gave a weak smile and decided it was time for him to return home, he had far too much on his mind. Susie watched as Freddie left, she frowned and turned toward Valerie and Jonah. "I don't suppose you two know anything about Shane…" Valerie glanced down and Jonah merely shrugged, not really knowing what to say. They didn't know a whole lot about Shane, other than what Susie probably already knew.

"You might try Carly," Valerie said while glancing toward the side.

"Okay, I'll do that. In the mean time…" Susie smirked and the two friends gave her a suspicious look. "I'm going to leave you two here by yourselves." Valerie and Jonah's mouth fell as they watched Susie rush out of the house. Susie made her way toward the apartment complex and entered. Lewbert let out a scream and Susie quickly sighed, still annoyed by him. "Lewbert, I recommend seeing two people." Lewbert raised his eyebrow as Susie held up two fingers. "One, a counselor, and number two, a dermatologist." Lewbert blinked and stared at Susie as she left, no one had ever been honest with him like that.

Susie made it to Carly's apartment and knocked on the door, she waited until Carly answered. "Um, hi Susie, what are you doing here?" Carly asked while raising her eyebrow. She looked around and sighed. "I see Freddie's not with you, there's a shock." Susie rolled her eyes, knowing that Carly too didn't seem to like her spending so much time with Freddie. It wasn't exactly her fault; it was his choice to begin with. "So, did you need something? Come inside, I guess."

"Thanks." Susie stepped inside and sat down on the couch. She watched as Carly placed her hand on her stomach and sat down in a chair. "Um, can you tell me a little more about Shane?" Carly's eyes glazed over slightly and she shrugged her shoulders. "Valerie and Jonah told me that you could tell me about him."Carly narrowed her eyes and started to snap at Susie. She wasn't in the best of moods. "Sorry! I'm not trying to do anything bad or anything. It's just…I just want to know about Shane and his friends, because…"

"Maybe they were wrong. Why would you want to know anything about him? Is he trying to date you or something?" Carly laughed slightly and Susie merely glanced toward the side.

"No, but he's dating Sam." Carly then started to cough, causing Susie to quickly stand up with concern. "Do you need some water? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Carly sighed and sat up straight, signaling Susie to take a seat. Susie nodded and carefully sat down. "You worry about others too much, you do realize that, right?" Susie shrugged and slowly shook her head.

"I have my reasons…" Carly chuckled lightly and rested her elbow on the armrest, and placed her hand to her head.

"Why Freddie doesn't like Shane, and nobody else likes him for that matter…there are a few reasons. One, Freddie used to be Shane's friend, but stopped when they became the vain, self loving people they are. Two, because he, Jonah, and Valerie are the only one that knows this, since he and his mom were over when I found out, as well as those two. I'm pregnant." Susie's eyes widened and Carly straightened herself up once more. "Actually, I haven't started showing yet, but I'm about four months pregnant with Shane's child. Shane, of course, wants nothing to do with it."

"Wh-What do you mean pregnant?" Carly gave Susie a weird look and she quickly changed her wording. "I mean, how…no…why, okay, I sound stupid now." Susie narrowed her eyes and Carly laughed, knowing full well what Susie really wanted to know.

"Shane and his friends are jerks, if they want something, they're going to get it. Right now, I feel bad for Sam, because she doesn't know what he's like. Knowing Freddie, he might have tried to tell her, and knowing Sam, she probably didn't listen."

"Yeah, it went something like that…" Carly chuckled and stood up. She then walked toward the kitchen and opened the refrigerator, taking out a can of soda.

"Do you want anything? Oh, and I apologize if I start acting a little bitchy to you…mood swings." Susie smiled and shook her head.

"No thanks, but thank you for the offer." Carly nodded and opened the soda can, she took a sip of it and walked back to the couch.

"Okay, so where do I start? Let's see…Freddie was friends with Shane a while back, even when Sam and I were competing for him. Apparently, the friendship ended somewhere around the part where Shane was talking about having 'both' of us."

"You're kidding, he would have considered that?" Carly nodded and took another sip of her drink.

"Freddie only told me about how Shane had acted because I was the one that started dating Shane. At first, I thought it was just jealousy…but eventually I learned otherwise." Carly placed her hand on her stomach and frowned, but then she smiled. "Even still, it's going to be a beautiful baby."

"Yeah…" Susie tilted her head in confusion when she realized that Freddie had told her Carly never dated Shane. "Um, Freddie mentioned that you and Shane never actually dated."

"No one, not even Shane likes to remember the dating. Shane especially, since he has too many girlfriends at once. Freddie pushes it out of his mind, and tells everyone that we never dated." Susie's mouth formed an O shape and she decided to listen to the rest of Carly's story. "Shane and his friends…they like sex. That's just it, they can't get enough. Part of their kinks is watching that disgusting stuff and then participating in it."

"Doesn't that mean they are merely viewers of-"

"No, that's television. They have this girl with them that always participates in the heinous and filthy acts. They never rape, that's a major issue, though Brian does come close to doing it sometimes. Yet, they manage to sweet talk their dates into having an intricate lesbian relationship, before one of them gets in."

"Ew, that's gross!" Carly nodded and took another sip of her drink.

"Some girls are strong, and they will refuse. Yet, they forget, Shane_ always_ gets what he wants. Like me, he said that I didn't have to do it, but in turn, he'd use his tech skills to completely shut down iCarly. I didn't want that to happen, so I gave in…"

"Oh my god…" Susie placed her hands over her mouth as Carly closed her eyes and nodded. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to bring up such a big wound!"

"Stop apologizing for things that you have no control over." Carly obviously hated the memory, but there was nothing she could do about it. She did want Shane to own up and help take care of the child, but it was probably not going to happen. Even still, she didn't want Shane, in the way he currently was, to even come near her baby. "If you honestly want to do anything, then go try and help Sam. She probably won't believe you at first…"

"You realize I was going to do that anyway, right?"

"I don't see why you would. You shouldn't always worry about others, there are times when you should be worrying about yourself."

"Carly, if it's any consolation…I worry about myself all the time." Susie stood up and Carly raised her eyebrow. "I won't be happy unless I'm sure my friends are, it's just the way I am, because...well...there's really no changing it I guess . Thanks for telling me this, now I know just how bastardly Shane and his friends are." Carly sighed as she watched Susie walk out of the apartment, she actually didn't think Susie should get involved, but she did want to warn Sam.

* * *

Well, Shane really is a creep. So what will happen next chapter? I will say this, it will be bittersweet for many. I hope you enjoyed this one, stick around for the next!


	23. Adrekosarcoma

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 23 (Adrekosarcoma)

Freddie was sitting at his desk in his bedroom when Jonah and Valerie entered, he raised his eyebrow and looked at them. "Surely you two know how to knock," Freddie said while smirking. Jonah rolled his eyes and Valerie sat on the bed, Jonah had asked her to come over to Freddie's with him. "What is it?"

"I wanted your help with something," Jonah said while stepping next to Freddie. Freddie slowly stood up and shifted his eyes toward where Jonah was motioning. Jonah was pointing toward Valerie, and she was staring out the window. He lowered his voice to a whisper. "I wanted to ask her out, but I'm still too nervous. I'm thinking she's going to turn me down because of what I did to Sam, so I kind of wanted you to be here-" The door opened and Jake walked in, grinning brightly.

"Hey Freddie, Jonah, how's it going?" Jake asked as he stepped next to his friends. Jonah chuckled weakly and Freddie laughed at him.

"Jake, you have great timing," Freddie said. "Jonah was about to ask Valerie something really important!" Freddie intentionally spoke at a higher tone of voice for Valerie to hear. Jonah paled significantly and Jake merely snorted, trying to keep in his laugh. Valerie raised her eyebrow and looked over at Jonah with question. Jonah was now starting to turn red and was glaring at Freddie, who was merely smirking at him. "Go on Jonah, tell her, before someone else does…." He frowned and turned back to his desk. Everyone else sighed and shook their heads, thinking only about what had happened.

"Yeah, I saw what happened on the webshow," Jake stated while rubbing the back of his neck. He had been watching Valerie and Susie's premiere and caught the whole part of Sam dating Shane. "I came to offer my condolences, it sucks man, I know how you feel." Freddie shrugged and turned back around, smiling at his friends. Jake raised his eyebrow and folded his arms over his chest. "You seem to be taking it a little better than I thought, or is it really hitting you that hard?"

"It's not important right now. Jonah, just ask Valerie what you wanted to, I'm sure she'll accept." Jonah's head jerked back slightly and Valerie blushed. Hearing Freddie's words, she was wondering if Jonah was finally going to ask her out. She watched as Jonah took a breath and put a confident smile on his face. She swallowed lightly and felt her heart start pumping harder as he walked toward her. Freddie and Jake stood behind him, both of them would be there to help if anything was to go wrong. As he stopped walking, she slowly stood up and kept her eyes in his gaze.

"What do you want to ask me, Jonah?" Valerie asked in a shy voice.

"Well, given what happened earlier, I thought I should go ahead and speed things up before Vash actually gets you." Valerie raised her eyebrow and Jonah's gaze did not falter. "Valerie, I keep thinking that because of what happened to Sam, I don't deserve to have another relationship. Yet, over time, I've learned that maybe I can have a second chance after all, especially if Freddie was willing to give me a second chance. Maybe I can have a second chance at a relationship, and maybe…you can be that second chance."

Valerie gasped lightly and the room grew silent, if you tried, you could hear a pin drop. Her dreams had just come true, Jonah had just asked her out. She couldn't wait to tell Mrs. Puckett and everyone else, but Sarah was at work once more at her lab. She didn't work at a normal hospital, and only went to regular hospitals for special requests. "Jonah, did I hear you right? Are you seriously asking me out? I mean…_me_, of all people you could ask, you want to date me?"

"You're the only one that really ever puts up with me, and I really care about you. So, to answer your question…" Jonah took a deep breath and his friends placed their hands on his shoulders, urging him on. "Would you like to go to dinner with me, say…tomorrow night?" Jonah closed his eyes, as if waiting for her to scream that she didn't want to go out with someone who would most likely cheat on her. He waited for her to say how she despised cheaters and how they were nothing but scum. Yet, that moment never came. Instead, he felt two arms wrap around him. He opened his eyes and saw Valerie smiling sweetly at him.

"Of course I will, I've been waiting for you to ask me out for a while, and I think I was starting to lose hope. Though, I can't say I would ever give up on you. It's about damn time." Jonah chuckled lightly and blushed when he felt Valerie's lips connect with the side of his face. "Well, for someone like you to blush, I must be pretty special."

"Yeah, yeah you are special." Jonah smiled and kissed Valerie's forehead, thankful that he finally managed to get her to date him. "At least I don't have to worry about Vash sweeping you off your feet." Valerie blinked at the statement and then laughed, causing Jonah to raise his eyebrow.

"Vash…yeah, I think there's more of a chance of me kissing a rattlesnake than going out with _him_. You had no reason to worry about that, especially since you were the only guy on my mind." Valerie gazed into Jonah's eyes and smiled, she would never stray from his side, and neither would he.

"Well then, I'm glad to hear it." Jake smiled at his friends and glanced out the window, he saw three girls that appeared to be having an argument. At closer range, it looked like Sam, Susie, and Shannon.

"Uh guys, I think there's trouble on the horizon," Jake said while gesturing for the others to come by the window. The group moved to the window and looked at what Jake was talking about, Freddie's eyes widened and he quickly stepped back.

"Damn it! Come on, we have to break this up!" Freddie said in a quick voice. "Susie's starting to look a little upset, that's not good. It might be a good idea to get Champ and Morgan, come on!"

**-NEW SCENE-**

"How about you stop being so damn annoying!" Sam shouted as she shoved Shannon to the side. Shannon yelped and caught her balance, she then shouted a curse at Sam. Sam growled and glared at the woman. "Damn it…I'm not even dating Freddie, I'm with Shane!"

"That's what I'm trying to talk about!" Susie said in a quick and desperate tone of voice. "Shane's dangerous." Sam moaned and glared at Susie.

"Listen, it's none of your business. Just go about your own business and be happy with Freddie, okay!" Sam was to the point of tears, as was Susie. Shannon was merely caught in the middle of it.

"You're saying you've given up on Freddie?" Shannon asked while raising her eyebrow. Sam huffed and grabbed a tuft of the girl's hair, pulling her close.

"Freddie will never love you, Shannon. I'd say it's clear who has his heart, don't you?"

"Ah! Let go of my hair!"

"Then how about you leave me and Susie alone, we were having a nice discussion until you came along!" That was partly true, Susie had been trying to tell Sam what Carly told her, but Sam didn't really want to hear it. She hadn't really wanted to talk to Susie to begin with.

"It looked more like you two were yelling at each other, or you were yelling at her…" Sam rolled her eyes and let go of Shannon's hair. The girl then grabbed her hair and winced, thankful to be free of Sam's grasp. "If I were you, I wouldn't trust Shane or his friends." Shannon cringed at the memory of what Brian had tried to do, it seemed like he was about to rape her, but Rueben came along. _"Rueben…"_

"See, even Shannon thinks there's something wrong with him," Susie cried out. She was pleading for Sam to believe her, she really didn't want to see Sam get hurt. Shannon nodded in agreement and sniffed slightly, wiping away a tear.

"His friend, Brian, was trying to go too far with me at the library…"

"What were you doing at the library?" Sam asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"Well I was spying, but that's not the point!"

"You were spying on me and Freddie!" Sam screamed out and pushed Shannon, her anger growing more. "Why can't you get it through your thick skull that he won't like you? Hell, he won't even like me! He's got his girlfriend over there!" Susie couldn't take it much more, and her heart was already beating harder than it should.

"I'm not his girlfriend!" Susie shouted angrily, catching the attention of Sam and Shannon. "I am not dating him! I want him to move on, we're trying to move on!" Sam took a step back and Shannon let out a whimpering sound, neither girl liked when Susie grew angry. Sam shifted her eyes toward Susie's arm and raised her eyebrow, it was the first time she saw the scar. It was very bubbly and very crusty, as well as having a purplish tint to it.

"That scar isn't from a wall…"

"Oh what do you care, you don't care! I was trying to be nice, because I wanted a few friends. I mean, is it so hard to ask for a few simple friends in the last…" Susie stopped and felt a pang in her chest.

"Uh, Susie…what's going on?" Sam seemed very concerned now, she quickly rushed toward Susie and frowned at the girl's pained expression. "Last what? What are you talking about?"

"No, not now…please…" Susie clutched her stomach and her chest, groaning in agony. Her body started to turn pale and clammy, when Sam touched her arm, it burned.

"Oh my god…" Sam looked over to see Freddie running out of the building, behind him were his friends.

"Susie!" Freddie shouted out. Sam looked up to see Susie with blood and some strange colored fluid trickling from her mouth. She took a fearful step back and watched with wide eyes. "Damn it, don't just stand there, someone call a goddamn doctor! NOW!" Sam nodded and called an ambulance watching as Susie began to sweat even more.

"What's wrong with her?" Shannon asked while raising her eyebrow. "I hope it's not contagious, but then, I don't think I care if it is…" Sam hung up the phone after contacting the ambulance and frowned. Susie's eyes turned skyward and she fell backwards, being caught in Freddie's arms.

"F-Freddie, what just happened?" Sam asked. Jake rushed to Susie's side and quickly took her hand.

"Susie, wake up!" Jake called out. Freddie frowned and slowly shook his head. He carefully carried Susie to a patch of grass and laid her down on the ground, the others followed him.

"This is what she told me before at the park, she whispered in my ear. She didn't want anyone to know, because she didn't want anyone to worry about her. That man, Terrance, he had a very small needle in his hand on that day. When he grabbed her arm, he injected a very rare disease." Freddie shook slightly as Champ and Morgan fell to their knees next to Susie, shocked and hoping it wasn't fatal. "The reason we were always together…we were compiling a list of things to do before…"

"Before what, Freddie?" Sam asked while looking rather upset.

"The disease is apparently called Adrekosarcoma. It was recently discovered and there is no known cure to it. That scar on her arm isn't really a scar as it is an injection point. The disease becomes worse and it causes people not to be able to do certain things. Susie…she couldn't eat any frozen foods like ice cream, nor could she eat solid food."

"What happened if she did?" Jake asked. He was looking at Susie with a forlorn look, he was hoping that Susie would be just fine, and that she would get up and smile at him, but it wasn't going to happen.

"She would throw it right back up. If she threw up, blood, and other stuff would come up with it. She told me that she was dying." Sam gasped and everyone else stared in shock, they couldn't believe what they were hearing, how could Susie be dying. "She was always trying to remain calm, because if she ever got worked up, the disease would become worse and eventually claim her life faster. Now she'll have to spend the rest of her days in a hospital…" Freddie punched the ground and closed his eyes, tears were starting to form.

"No, this can't be," Sam said as she stepped back and whimpered. "Was this my fault? Did I cause her that stress?"

"Most likely it was Shannon," Valerie said while glaring at Shannon, tears in her eyes as well. Freddie slowly stood up and sighed.

"It wasn't anyone's fault, nobody could control the path of that disease anyway," Freddie responded. He glanced at Jake and saw a look of sheer horror on his face, he knew that Jake and Susie had grown very close over the time she had been with them. Freddie closed his eyes and heard the sound of an ambulance coming closer, he sighed and tried to remain calm. "Jake, you'll have to see her in the hospital."

"She just wanted some friends," Sam said in a quiet voice. She closed her eyes and felt the tears running down her cheeks._ "Maybe if I hadn't been so jealous, we could have been friends…damn it, I'm such an idiot."_ Sam wiped her eyes and watched as the ambulance stopped nearby and brought out a stretcher, she couldn't help but watch as they put Susie on the stretcher and carried away. "Did she ever say when she found out?"

"A few days after the attack on the school, she went to the doctor for a blood test, and they figured out what the problem was." Freddie frowned and shook his tears off, he didn't want anyone to see his tears. He quickly walked back toward the apartment building, knowing that he needed time to recuperate from what had just happened.

* * *

There you have it, the big mystery. Kudos to Colorsofthesky101 for figuring out that Susie had something wrong with her. As I said, bittersweet chapter. By the way, Adrekosarcoma is a made up disease.


	24. Making a Decision

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 24 (Making a Decision)

Jake, Freddie, Jonah, Valerie, Champ, and Morgan all stood in a small hospital room, listening to the droning sound of the heart monitor and staring at Susie. A full two days had passed. She was lying in the hospital bed, and had a slight greenish tint to her skin. It was hard to say who had been hit the hardest, they each appeared to be equally depressed, but they had good reason to be.

"I can't believe she's going to die," Jake said as he stared at Susie. He would normally not act like he had any feelings for her, because of the 'Best Friend" rule. "I mean, she seemed so full of life and energy. She was…I don't know, she was a great person. She meant well and always seemed to be pleasant. She seemed so happy, but knowing she was going to die…I can see how hard it would be to actually be." Freddie sighed and placed his hand on Jake's shoulder, he knew full well about Jake's thoughts and feelings.

"Jake, why did you never try and ask her out?" Freddie asked while looking with concern. Jake turned his head and met Freddie's gaze. "I'm sure she would have been happy to go on a date with you. She really did want to go on a date with someone, and I know that you liked her." Jake raised his eyebrow and Freddie's expression turned solemn as he looked toward Susie. "I saw how you two interacted and Susie would always tell me what happened when you two were together. She even told me what happened when Jason tried to flirt with her." Freddie laughed lightly and looked toward Jake. "I have to say you did a good job."

"It wasn't that much, the guy just didn't know when to shut up." Jake wiped his eyes and Freddie ran his hand up Susie's arm, pulling her sleeve up and glancing at her scar. "If that bastard Terrance hadn't died, I would love to punch him in the face." The others all nodded in agreement and Freddie sighed. "Standing around here and acting depressed, this isn't what Susie would want us to do. She would want us to try and keep her memory and be pleasant."

"I don't even know what we could do," Morgan said quietly.

"You know what…did I ever tell you about the time our moms managed to _actually_ scare us on Halloween?" The others all chuckled and looked to Freddie, interested in the story.

**-NEW SCENE-**

"You didn't want to go?" Carly asked as she and sat on Sam's couch, Sam was sitting on the edge. Sam crossed her arms and stared at the ground, she felt extremely bad about everything. "Feeling guilty won't get you anywhere. So Susie has this disease, it's no reason not to go see her."

"I know, it's just…I don't really know what to say or even what to think. I mean, maybe Susie wasn't so bad. True, she's no Shannon, but I think I misjudged her, and that was wrong." Carly sighed and walked over to the kitchen sink, she turned it on and started washing her hands.

"Well, you liked Freddie, so naturally you put up the defense. It's not really your fault, or anyone else's for that matter. Maybe we should run by the hospital and check on her, because sitting around here isn't going to accomplish anything at all."

"I know, but I have a date with Shane in just thirty minutes." Carly frowned and turned off the faucet, she knew Sam was probably not going to believe her if she said Shane was a jerk, so she kept quiet. Not only that, but there was a chance that Shane had changed his ways and probably could treat Sam better. She thought for a brief second and shook her head, it might take a miracle if Shane were to suddenly have a turnaround. Moreover, it would take separation from his friends to actually get him to get a life.

"Maybe stopping by Susie would be more important than Shane."

"Are you kidding? I mean, as much as I want to, it's Shane…" Shane was manipulative, it wouldn't surprise Carly if he was already weaving Sam into his little web of lies and finding a way to get her to do things he wanted her to do. Carly sighed and slowly shook her head.

"I hope you and Shane don't…you know."

"Don't what?" Sam raised her eyebrows then twisted her face in disgust. "Ew! You think I would have sex with the guy? That's disgusting! I mean…I mean, not right _now_. I'd rather wait till marriage."

"Yeah, just hope he wants to wait."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Sam…" Sam looked over as her mom entered the living room, she smiled at Sam and pointed toward the kitchen.

"The brownies in there are done," Sarah stated. Sam smiled briefly then glanced at the floor with a sad look. "Oh, what is it sweetie?" Sarah sat next to Sam and placed her arm around her shoulders. "Is something bothering you?"

"Not really." Sam thought for a moment and looked toward her mom. "Mom, do you know if you got any reports for cases of that disease you discovered the cure for?"

"No, but it's fortunate, since I would hate to see someone suffering like that. The disease tends to be very painful when it hits, there's a lot of screaming and clawing involved, actually. I'd probably be close to tears if I had to administer it, because I know that there's a chance the cure won't work if the disease progresses too far." Sarah slowly stood up and patted her pants, she then remembered her daughter's date. "By the way, I hope you have fun with Shane tonight."

"Yeah, I'll try." Sam smiled and stood up, it was then she heard the doorbell ring. Sarah went over and answered the door, Shane was standing with roses in hand and a smirk on his face. "Shane! It's good to see you." Sam walked over to Shane and gave him a hug. She pulled back when he tried to kiss him. "Uh, not yet Shane…Give that a little time." Shane gave a defeated sigh and shrugged his shoulders, not really caring.

"That's fine with me."

"Cool." Sam looked toward her mom and smiled. "Hey, I hope that cure gets it's mention."

"It won't actually get any mention until it successfully _cures_ someone, dear," Sarah said while slowly shaking her head. "Meaning right now, as far as the medical world is concerned, I discovered a theory." She smiled and glanced toward Shane, she couldn't say she liked the guy. Personally, she liked Freddie a lot better, and thought he was more suitable for her daughter. "I'm just glad to have discovered a cure for it, if only I did before your dad died from it…" Shane appeared to be growing impatient, so Sarah decided to just send them on their way. "I hope you have fun on your date, sweetie."

"Yeah, not _too_ much fun, _Shane_," Carly said while narrowing her eyes. Sarah raised her eyebrow and Sam paid no mind. Shane merely laughed and slowly shook his head as he started walking away.

"Come on Sam, let's get moving," Shane said quietly. Sam nodded and started to turn around, stopping only to glance at her mom.

"Hey, what was it that Dad died from again, the disease you found the cure to?" Sarah smirked triumphantly and crossed her arms.

"Adrekosarcoma." Sam's eyes widened and Shane quickly pulled her arm, pulling her from the door.

"Come on, we don't want to be late!" Shane said quickly, his voice slightly scolding.

**-NEW SCENE-**

Sam stepped into the hospital room, her date with Shane had ended and she had nothing else to do. There wasn't anyone else, so she just had a little time alone. She heard the faint beeping of the heart monitor and saw Susie lying semi peacefully on the bed. She hated feeling like she was the reason for this, but she had been the cause of Susie's stress. She stepped next to Susie's bed and placed her hand on Susie's arm.

"I'm so sorry," Sam said in a tearful voice. "I shouldn't have been so jealous, and maybe I wouldn't have made you get so stressed out. I just didn't know what to think. I mean, you used to be Freddie's girlfriend, and now you're back…I was just so confused. Now you're dying, and I know Shannon thinks she's going to win Freddie's heart. Chances are, she will..." Sam frowned and wiped her eyes. "I didn't give up on him, but Shane asked me out, and I accepted. Only, I don't think I can leave him now. I mean, he's kind of rough."

She didn't want to tell anyone that Shane was a bit forceful. He hadn't tried anything bad, but he did manage to cause her to actually fear some things. "I still wish I could date Freddie, but now it doesn't seem likely. I don't want to have an affair, that's for sure. Shane, he's just a bit…he's not really someone I feel comfortable dating." She didn't know why she was really talking, she knew that Susie couldn't hear her, or at least that's what she thought. "I'm sorry, Susie."

Sam started to turn around but stopped when she heard a sound. It was like a subtle moaning noise. She turned around and saw Susie trying to turn her head. She was obviously in an extreme amount of pain, but she was trying her hardest not to show it. She smiled at Sam and shook her head. "Don't be sorry about anything," Susie said in a strained voice. "It's not your fault at all, it's more the fault of the guy that injected the disease into me. I was already stressed, you added none." Sam felt a tear run down her cheek, she didn't think she deserved Susie's kindness.

"You're dying and you have the idea to tell me not to feel guilty for this? It doesn't make a lot of sense…wouldn't you just be happy if I felt bad?"

"Why should I? I wanted everyone else to be happy, I could actually care less about myself." Sam sniffed and closed her eyes, trying to think of a response.

"Susie, that's stupid. You can't make everyone in the world happy. You should focus on making yourself happy, especially now!"

"I had my chance to do that, and I blew it. I don't particularly care about my happiness, not while I'm laying here and dying." Susie turned her head and gazed toward the ceiling, swallowing and letting her tears run down her face. "It hurts to move, hurts to swallow, hurts to talk, and it even hurts to cry. I didn't know I was going to die that badly. I remember, Terrance said if anyone moved, he was going to kill me. Morgan moved to save my life, but it seems like Terrance actually made good on his promise."

"That's not true!" Susie closed her eyes and smiled lightly.

"Sam, I'm the one lying on this bed and dying right now. I think it's as true as it's going to get." Susie took a painful breath and moaned. "This hospital is so small…I heard of a doctor that made a medicine that could get rid of what I have, but it costs too much money for this hospital to get. I'm going to die. I'm actually going to die, and I don't even know if there was anybody that I ever…I don't want to die!" Susie screamed out in pain, causing Sam to wince. Susie's body twitched and cracked, she felt as though several bumps were moving all over her skin and that her body was boiling.

"Susie! Susie relax!" Sam rushed over to Susie and placed her hands on her arm, grunting at the heat that was radiating from the girl's body.

"It burns! Oh god it hurts so badly! I don't want to die! Please, stop this! END IT!"

"Please, calm down, you're scaring me." Then it dawned on her, the hospital couldn't legally get or contact the doctor, but perhaps the doctor could administer the cure without having to take profit. It was possible, because the doctor was Mrs. Puckett.

In turn, Sam needed to make the breaking decision, she was the only one that could save Susie's life. It was either save Susie's life and possibly let her have Freddie, or don't try to talk to her mom and somehow manage to get away from Shane and take Freddie's heart herself. She listened to Susie's wailing scream and slowly wrapped her arms around her, trying to comfort her with a hug. She closed her eyes and ignored the intense heat that Susie's body was giving off, she was shocked that her body could even get that hot.

"It's going to be okay, Susie," Sam said while letting a tear fall from her eye. She was making her decision. "I'm going to talk to my mom, you're going to live. You're going to make it through this thing, I promise. Then, maybe, we can actually do something together and try to be friends." Susie started to breathe heavily, but stopped screaming, listening to Sam's soothing whisper. "They said you couldn't eat solid food or ice cream for so long, I don't know how you could stand it. I admire you…you have to be pretty strong for this. When you're out of here, we're going to go to Brahms and have both a sandwich and some ice cream!"

"W-What?" Susie's voice was strained and more painful than it had been just a second ago. It pained Sam to hear it. "You mean you actually would want to hang out with me?" Sam was already crying, and hearing Susie's painful voice only increased the horrible feeling that she had.

"Yes, you deserve to have a good friend here. I'm usually a nice person, but I haven't been very nice to you, and I think you deserve to know my better side." Susie gave a weak smile and watched as Sam took a step back. "I'm going to talk to my mom, she's the doctor you're looking for."

"The doctors say I don't have much longer to live…Maybe about a day…maybe less." Sam's eyes widened and she figured she didn't really have much time at all. It could be a matter of mere hours. She absolutely had to get her mom to this hospital, and fast.

"I'm on it, trust me, I won't let you die!" Susie glanced at Sam as the blonde ran out of the room, she rested her head back on her pillow and moaned. She knew it was way less than a day. Either way, she could see death on the horizon. Her usual cheerful and happy eyes were no longer there, and her pleasant expression had dulled. All she knew was Terrance was laughing from his grave, having taken yet another student of Hamm Lake. She didn't want to die, so all she really could do was trust that Sam would come back, and that's what she would do. She closed her eyes and took a breath, hardening her face as she tried to fight the excruciating pain within her body.

* * *

So Sam is making the decision to save Susie's life, even though it means that Susie may win Freddie's heart. Yet, is it all as it seems? Sam is now friendly with Susie, that much is known. Will she make it in time? Stick around for the next chapter.


	25. Race for a Miracle

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 25 (Race for a Miracle)

Sam rushed out of the hospital, she knew that she was short on time and had to avoid all obstacles. Not only that, but she knew that she had to somehow convince Susie's parents to get to the hospital, they would have to do some paperwork in order to let Sarah administer the drug. Also, she had to convince her mom to administer it for free.

Of course, if her mom had to, she could administer it for a cheaper price. Sam didn't care to think of money, but only getting everything done as fast as she could. She knew that by doing this, she was most likely giving up on ever having Freddie's heart, but it was still the right thing for her to do. She was the only one that could save Susie, surely that wasn't a lot of pressure. She was giving up the chance to actually love and feel someone truly loving her in return. Shane didn't seem to love her, but he promised her that he did and that he'd never hurt her.

_"I have no choice but to believe him, really. He seems genuine when he says he won't hurt me."_ Sam continued running toward her home, thankfully it wasn't so far away that she couldn't get there. The only problem was that she was sure she saw Shannon as she ran by. She stopped and glanced back, seeing Shannon glaring at her. She didn't have a lot of time to chat, but it seemed Shannon wanted something. "Hey Shannon, I don't have time."

"I know what you're doing," Shannon said while narrowing her eyes. Sam raised her eyebrow and spotted Rueben walking out of a nearby building. He sighed and walked over to Shannon, crossing his arms and staring at Sam. "You're trying to make it so I don't stand a chance with Freddie! I will win his heart, you'll see!" Sam kept her eyebrow arched and watched as Rueben rolled his eyes and glanced away. This time, she really could see how the two went together. She smirked and crossed her arms, earning an immediate glare from her rival. "Why are you smirking?"

"Oh, because you're an idiot." Shannon's jaw dropped and Sam turned around. "You should know by now that Freddie wants nothing to do with you, you'll never win his heart at this rate. It's just as I will never possibly date Rueben. I don't mean to sound harsh, but you really need to move on. I'm sure there's someone better for you, and I bet you'll find him." Shannon scoffed and closed her fists. If there was anyone out there for her, she didn't know who it was or where that person was. Sam smirked and glanced back slightly. "Go ahead and look around, I'm sure he's around somewhere. Perhaps even closer than you think. I will say this, he isn't Freddie."

"Yeah, well what do you know." Sam shrugged her shoulders and took off in a run, she couldn't accept any more holdups. As she was running, she saw Shane in the distance, he was walking down the sidewalk. She was sure she heard him say hello, but she didn't stop to chat with him. He narrowed his eyes and told her hello once more, but she didn't respond. So in turn, he grabbed his wrist and pulled her back.

"I said hello," Shane stated. Sam looked into his eyes and chuckled nervously.

"I'm sorry, Shane. Well, hello to you!"

"Hey, you want to do something?"

"Not right now, I have something important to do." Shane raised his eyebrow and smirked as he coolly gazed into her eyes.

"Is it possibly more important than I am?" Sam didn't even have to think about the answer to that question, of course it was more important.

"It's a matter of life or death."

"I don't know, I consider it life or death whenever I'm without you, babe."

"Yeah, but you'll live! Anyway, I'm very sick, it's catching!"

"I don't mind catching whatever it is." Shane started to lean in, but Sam quickly tried to push him away.

"No Shane, not right now!"

"Yes, now." Shane wrapped his arms around Sam, causing her to let out a yelp and a scream. "Come on, you're my girlfriend."

"I have to do something!"

"She said not right now," A voice said from behind. Sam's eyes widened slightly and Shane turned his head back. Freddie was standing behind Shane with his hands in the pockets of his jacket. His eyes were narrow and his head titled slightly in annoyance.

"Freddie, a little privacy here, buddy?" Shane said while smirking. "I think it's 'us' time for me and my girlfriend, wouldn't you say?" Freddie growled and took a step forward, keeping his eyes narrow and his glare on Shane. He looked to Sam and saw that she had a panicked and desperate look on her face. His face hardened even more as he glanced from Sam and to Shane.

"Do you not understand the words 'not now,' Shane? Let…her…go, right _now_." Freddie's teeth were clenched and he was trying hard to keep his anger suppressed. "I'm sure once she finishes whatever she has to do, she'll probably make out with you or whatever."

"Gee, thanks dork!" Sam shouted.

"Sure thing, not now Sam." Sam rolled her eyes and pushed at Shane once more. "She wants you to let her go, so let her go." Shane chuckled lightly and released Sam as he turned toward Freddie.

"Are you trying to steal my girl, is that it?" Freddie smirked and crossed his arms.

"If I wanted to do that, I would have done it already." Sam blushed and raised her eyebrow, wondering what he meant by that. "I'm a gentleman, so I abide by the rule that one man's girlfriend is his own, and another man shouldn't take her." Shane shrugged and looked toward Sam.

"You just _had_ to scream, didn't you?" Sam gave him an apologetic look and turned around.

"Sorry, but I have to go, it's life or death!" Sam exclaimed as she ran off. Shane sighed and Freddie made a chuckling sound. Sam continued to run, not letting anything stop her until she made it to her home. Once there, she opened the door and ran inside. "Mom! Mom, are you home!"

"Yes sweetie, why are you shouting?" Sarah asked as she stepped out of another room. "Are you okay? You look a bit…rushed."

"I know, but I had to get here as fast as I could. Susie's dying!" Sarah tilted her head and tapped her chin, trying to remember who Susie was.

"Susie, isn't she Freddie's old girlfriend?"

"Yes, and I'm the only one that can save her. Well…you are, but you get my point!" Sarah walked toward Sam and smiled at her daughter.

"Okay, take a deep breath, relax, then tell me what's going on." Sam nodded and inhaled, then she slowly exhaled.

"Susie has that disease that you discovered a cure for, and she's in a lot of pain. She's at the Poly Hospital just a few blocks from here."

"Wait, that hospital…they're a small hospital."

"I know, and I know that they don't have enough money for you to administer the cure, but you _have_ to! I think she has less than a day to live!" Sarah's mouth opened in slight shock, she knew the disease would have had to progress pretty far for that.

"Well, if it means that much to you, I can administer the cure for free. I mean, it is a human life we're talking about here, I don't mind saving her. We do have to contact her parents, they have to say they will allow us to administer the cure, or else there's no chance…"

"You mean you'll do it? Really?" Sarah nodded and Sam quickly hugged her. "Thank you Mom, you don't know how great this is."

"What more, is if we can save Susie, this drug will save the lives of many people." Sam nodded and Sarah quickly left into another room to grab her supplies. They would have to get down to the hospital and call the parents in.

-NEW SCENE-

Sam stood in the hospital room with her mom and a few other doctors, they had called and received permission from Susie's parents to administer the life saving antidote. Susie's parents were in the room as well, both of them were praying for this to work. As for Freddie, Jake and the others, they had been requested to wait outside the room. Sarah looked to Susie and smiled as the girl lifted her pained eyes up to her. Susie trusted her, that was the most she could do, was to trust Sarah with her life. After all, her life was literally in this woman's hands.

"Don't be afraid," Sarah said in a calm and gentle voice. "We're here for you. It may sting, but the antidote should remove all of the infection from your system. Do you trust me, Susie?"

"Y-Y…" It was too hard for her to talk, so Sam took Susie's hand and looked at her mom.

"Susie, if you want to say something, just squeeze Sam's hand. When I give you this injection, I want you to squeeze Sam's hand, but wait until after I've removed the needle, do you understand?" Susie squeezed Sam's hand, signaling that she understood. "That's good, and you trust me, you believe this will work?" Susie squeezed Sam's hand two times and Sarah gave another smile. "I'm glad, now, are you ready?" Once more, Susie squeezed Sam's hand. Sam looked at Susie and frowned, she could see that Susie's body was all cracked and had a gray and greenish color to it. It looked horrible. A sign that the cure would work was supposed to be painful at first, but very soothing toward the end. The color would return to Susie and the cracked and dry skin would start to go away.

"Okay, mom and dad, I want you to take Susie's other hand," Sarah directed. "In fact, take her arm. Sam, you hold down the arm that you have now." Sam nodded and positioned her hands on Susie's arms. Susie's parents held her other arm and stared tearfully at their daughter, they had the utmost faith that the medicine would work. Yet, they also had their fears. Sarah shifted her eyes to two doctors and directed them to hold down Susie's legs. Another doctor was instructed to hold down Susie's shoulders. She didn't want the girl's body to jerk around when the medicine was injected.

"This cure has been tested on several different holders of this disease, and at different dosages and stages. If this works, and I believe it will, Susie will be cured of the disease, and doctors can then administer this. Let's get started…where is the source of the infection?"

"Right here, doctor," A nurse said as she rolled up Susie's shirt sleeve. Sarah spotted the crusty scab and frowned, it appeared to be filled with pus and other disease.

"Okay, when this cure is put in, that infection should go down and disappear. The life threatening part of the disease should go away within six minutes of injection, but she will have to stay in the hospital for a few days before her features completely return to normal. During this time, I request that all doctors have her on constant surveillance." The doctors nodded and watched as Sarah cleaned the area that would have the shot. She then picked up a syringe and filled it with the antidote. She held the syringe in the air and tapped it lightly, removing the air bubbles. She then moved in toward the pus filled infection. "Okay Susie, here we go, take a deep breath."

Susie nodded slowly and inhaled. Sam squeezed Susie's hand with the hand not holding down her arm and gave her a tearful smile. Susie smiled back at Sam and her parents as she closed her eyes. She tried to think of anything other than the disease she had and the thought of dying. Sarah positioned the needle directly in the center of the scab and quickly injected the needle in, that was the easy part for everyone. The next part was pushing the antidote into Susie's body, it felt like fire rushing into her arm.

Susie opened her mouth and wanted to scream, it burned more than anything that she had ever felt. Sam, the doctors, and her parents all had to hold her body down as she started to shake violently. Sarah quickly pulled the needle out, having successfully injected the medicine. She then disposed of the needle and took a small sigh of relief. Susie's body jerked violently, all of the pain was now shooting throughout her entire body, burning her. Sarah slowly knelt beside Susie and spoke in a calm and soothing voice.

"Don't worry, it's the medicine wiping out the bad disease. It'll all be over soon. You're doing great, Susie, hang in there." Susie turned her eyes toward Sarah and whimpered, she hated the feeling that she was having. Everyone in that room knew that it was going to be the longest six minutes of their lives. Susie's body thrashed and her movements became worse and harder to control. More doctors and nurses had to come in and help hold her down. Susie turned her eyes and met Sam's gaze, the two held each other's gaze and felt it to be somehow soothing.

"You're going to make it," Sam said in a quiet voice. "You're going to make it, Susie." Soon, the six minutes passed, and Susie's body stopped shaking. She felt what seemed like cool water flowing throughout her body. It was a cleansing feeling, one that felt as if it was cleansing her body of the ashes left from the disease. Susie smiled and everyone in the room relaxed, thankful that the worst part of it had ended. Sam looked at Susie's arm and saw that the scab was starting to go away, no more would the swollen infection threaten Susie's peace. Sam smiled and tears started rolling down her face. "You did it, Susie. You survived."

"Heh, you're the first person to survive a bout of that damnable disease," Sarah stated while crossing her arms and smirking. She couldn't be happier to see that she had managed to save someone's life. Not only that, it seemed like her daughter had made a new friend. "Congratulations Susie, you've been granted a longer life."

"Thank you, Ms. Puckett," Susie said in a calm but dry voice. Sarah smiled and looked toward a nurse.

"Miss, could you please get some water for this girl? I believe she needs some fluid in her." The nurse nodded and exited the room. "Okay, here's what needs to be done now. She needs to be placed under surveillance in recovery in the ICU for five days. As for feeding, I want her on liquefied food for the first couple of days, then slowly move to solids. I'll write down the rest of my report. Good job everyone…" Sarah looked toward Susie as the nurse propped up the bed and helped give the cool glass of water to her. "A miracle has just been performed."

* * *

Susie lives! She'll be in recovery for a bit. Good thing Sam managed to get to her mom in time.


	26. Visitation Hours

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 26 (Visitation hours)

Visiting Hours for Susie started on her second day in recovery, and all of her friends were visiting. They decided to wait until her parents went to get lunch, since they didn't want it to feel overcrowded. Jake, Jonah, and Freddie were actually talking outside while Champ and Morgan talked to Susie inside the hospital room. Valerie and Sam were outside the room as well, they had figured it would be too much to all go in at once.

"Can you believe your mom actually saved her life?" Valerie asked in a cheerful tone. "I'm so happy. I was so scared to lose a new friend, you just couldn't believe how distraught I was." Sam nodded and gave Valerie a quick hug. She could understand, everyone had been pretty uptight while Susie was in the hospital. "Jonah and I will have our first date when Susie gets out, actually."

"Oh, you didn't want to have it before?" Sam asked while raising her eyebrow. Valerie shook her head and shrugged, she and Jonah figured the time was too tense to start dating. Sam looked over at Freddie as he spoke with Jake, she did wonder what they were talking about, but at the same time, she didn't really think it was all that important. Jonah looked over at Valerie and smiled, he then walked over to her and cupped his hands over her eyes.

"Guess who!" Jonah said while grinning. Valerie giggled and turned around, smiling at Jonah. "Hey there, Valerie, how are you?"

"Good," she responded. Valerie wrapped her arms around Jonah's neck and kissed his cheek. "I'm happy that Susie's going to live." Jonah nodded in agreement and pulled Valerie closer. Sam smiled at the two and walked over toward the door to Susie's room, deciding to give the new couple a little space and privacy. She looked through the window and saw Champ and Morgan laughing with Susie, it seemed great to see her with a smile back on her face and the color back in her eyes. Sam looked over at Jake and Freddie, she still wondered what they were talking about.

"Are you sure, Freddie?" Jake asked while pushing his hands into his pockets. "I mean…wouldn't it break the rules?" Freddie raised his eyebrow and chuckled lightly.

"Nah, I don't mind at all," Freddie stated while giving Jake a friendly smile. "If you want to date her, you don't even need my permission to do so. Just because she's my ex doesn't exclude her from the options you have to date. Why, look at Jonah and Valerie! Valerie's my ex, Jonah's my best friend, and I don't mind them dating."

"Yeah, but…" Jake always thought they were different, since Valerie and Freddie's relationship ended poorly. Freddie had a very good relationship with Susie, so he thought Freddie would be uncomfortable with Jake dating her. He'd often cursed himself for developing a crush on her, since it seemed so difficult. Freddie could tell that Jake was filled with concern and confusion, and he figured he'd help him to remove some of that. "Freddie, you had a great relationship with Susie, and a poor relationship with Valerie, so wouldn't you feel uncomfortable with me dating Susie?" Freddie smiled and patted Jake on the shoulder, shaking his head in response.

"I wouldn't feel the slight bit uncomfortable, do you know why?" Jake frowned and looked into Freddie's eyes, seeing truth and honesty. "Susie's my ex girlfriend, true, and I would want to see her happy. I know she wants to be happy, and now she gets that chance. You're my best friend, and I want to see you happy as well. Both of you have confided in me that you would like the other to date. Well, if it's what makes you in a more pleasant mood, I say go for it." Freddie glanced back at the door and spotted Sam looking in, he chuckled and glanced back to Jake. "It seems like Sam's getting anxious to go in."

"Yeah, do you think Susie would feel comfortable if we all went in? I mean, one at a time doesn't seem like much."

"We're not going in one at a time, but we don't want to overdo it by going in at once, so we go in as pairs." Freddie glanced down the hall and wondered where Carly was, the girl had left to go to the restroom and didn't return. "I know it doesn't normally take Carly this long to go to the restroom."

"No it doesn't," A voice said from behind. Freddie looked over and saw Carly with her arms crossed, he chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm a pregnant woman, it's going to take a bit longer than normal!"

"Yeah, I figured. So, you want to go in next? It'll be you and Sam." Carly nodded and walked over to where Sam was.

"Hey Sam, how long have Champ and Morgan been in there?" Sam shrugged and continued to look through the window.

"I don't know, but I think they're fixing to come out, since it looks like they're hugging her."

"Oh." Champ and Morgan gave Susie one last hug and turned around to leave the room. Sam and Carly stepped out of the way as the two opened the door and exited. "How is she?"

"She's doing great," Morgan replied while grinning. "I think it's your turn to go in." Carly nodded and glanced over, Sam had already entered the room. She chuckled lightly and followed Sam in. Susie had balloons and gifts all over the room, they were from her friends and family. Sam stepped next to Susie's bed and smiled, Susie glanced over and returned her smile.

"Hey Sam, how are you?" Susie asked.

"I think I should be asking that question," Sam replied. Susie laughed lightly and shrugged.

"I guess I'm doing better than I was a few days ago. You don't know just how great I feel right now." Sam nodded in understanding, she imagined Susie would have to be feeling like the greatest person alive, having survived a deadly disease. When looking at her, Susie seemed perfectly normal. Her skin color had returned and the dry, cracked skin was gone. "I just can't believe I'm not sick anymore, I had gotten so used to it." Sam laughed and shook her head.

"Personally, I'm glad you're not sick anymore. Everyone was so tense and upset while you were here, nobody even knew what to do without you. I think Freddie was about to fight my boyfriend at one point of time." Susie laughed and then sighed, it seemed like something Freddie might do, since he liked Sam and didn't like Shane.

"I'm not so sure she needs to be in the hospital for that one," Carly remarked while holding in her laughter. Sam rolled her eyes and chuckled, she could actually have fun making fun of Shane, but she chose not to.

"Hah, I'd personally enjoy seeing the dork try to fight Shane, but then…"

"I'm not dating him, Sam," Susie said while leaning her head against the pillow. Sam's mouth fell open and confusion entered her. "I don't want to date him, I want him to move on from me. I mean, part of me still wants to, but part of me just wants him to remember the good memories and move on. I'm not the one he needs, I can't love him like I used to. Freddie is not Roland."

"What?" Susie exhaled slowly and closed her eyes.

"I loved Roland, not Freddie. I mean, I love him like a friend, but he changed away from my type of person. He's still the same caring, gentle, and kind spirit he used to be, but at the same time, he has changed. Plus, he likes someone else now." Sam raised her eyebrow and Carly glanced over at her.

"If you say Shannon…" Susie laughed and wiped her face, brushing off a tear.

"No, I don't believe he'd ever like her. Besides, have you noticed that look in Rueben's eyes?" Sam groaned and rubbed her neck.

"Yeah, the one that says 'let me date you' every time he looks at me."

"No, not that, I'm talking about when he looks at Shannon or at Freddie."

"Jealousy, perhaps desire…" Susie nodded and glanced up at the ceiling. She actually wanted to leave the hospital, but knew she had to stay in for just a few more days.

"Yeah, but anyway…I actually wouldn't mind dating Jake. I mean, he's really nice, and I think I like him." Susie closed her eyes and breathed out. Sam crossed her arms and smirked at her.

"You've got a crush on Jake?"

"Well, I mean!" Susie blushed and Carly laughed.

"Oh yeah, you have got it _bad_." Sam glanced toward the door and saw Jake and Freddie looking in, it was their turn to go inside. "Okay, well Carly and I have to leave you, damn." Susie laughed and Sam gave her a hug. "I can't wait until you're out of this bed!"

"Me either, and remember, you promised that we'd go get a hamburger and ice cream when I got out of here." Sam laughed and nodded, she wouldn't be forgetting that anytime soon. "I guess I'll see you later."

"Bye." Susie watched as Sam and Carly left the room. She sighed and closed her eyes, waiting as Freddie and Jake stepped next to her bed.

"Hey, it's been a while since we've seen you smile," Freddie said as he placed his hand on Susie's forehead. She opened her eyes and flashed a grin toward him, causing him to laugh lightly. "I'm guessing none of us have to worry anymore, you won't believe the relief that everyone feels, seeing you alive."

"Thanks Freddie, I'm glad that I had a good effect on everyone, apparently." Freddie nodded and looked over to the window, seeing Sam watching. He smirked and lifted his hand, curling his finger and gesturing for Sam to come in. Sam raised her eyebrow and slowly entered the room.

"What do you need?" Sam asked. Susie and Jake glanced over and watched as Freddie walked over to her. He placed his hand on her arm and gazed into her eyes, causing her to release a light blush. Upon contact, she felt a shiver run down her spine and goosebumps starting to form on her arm. "Well dork, is there something you needed?" Freddie smirked, enjoying the reaction that he was getting from her.

"I just wanted to say…I admire what you did for Susie. It was noble, you didn't have to get your mom to come, but I think everyone is glad that you did. This hospital never would have bothered contacting Mrs. Puckett, so it was in your hands. Thank you."

"Yeah, well, it was for your girlfriend." Sam smirked and lifted her eyebrows, she knew she could tease Freddie with that and get a reaction from him. He laughed and shook his head, he wasn't even going to bother defending himself on that.

"You keep that up, Sammy." Sam blushed again and felt Freddie slide his hand down her arm and take hold of her hand. She could feel the trail of heat that his hand left behind, she didn't know that he could have this effect on her. Freddie led her over to Susie's bedside and smirked as he looked toward her. "She seems to think that you and I are still dating."

"Dork, what are you doing!" Susie laughed and Freddie flashed a smirk toward Sam, causing her to be thrust into a trancelike state. After a brief second, she came back to reality. "One of these days, dork…one of these days."

"Susie, I'm telling you, I may end up having to take someone's girlfriend away. As for Sam, I don't know what I'm going to do with this blonde beauty." Sam's blush was growing deeper with each passing moment and each subtle flirt that Freddie gave. If she wasn't a woman of good merit, she would give in to the temptation to kiss him on the spot, but she didn't want to cheat on Shane, and she was sure Freddie wouldn't approve either. Freddie grinned and looked over at Jake. "Hey buddy, it looks like you have the floor."

Jake blinked and his mouth dropped, he knew what Freddie was telling him to do. Susie raised her eyebrow and glanced over at Jake, seeing him with a slightly red face. She laughed lightly as Jake shook off his blush and turned toward her. "Yeah, I wanted to ask you something, Susie," Jake said in a quiet voice. He took Susie's hand in his, causing her to blush at contact. "When you get out of this hospital, and after you're done with what you have to do with Sam, would you like to go out with me? Maybe to the movies or to dinner…"

"You mean on a date?" Susie asked. She was grinning at this point, in fact, she couldn't be happier.

"Yeah, I mean a date. I'd like to have that opportunity as well before Jason comes around again." Susie chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

"There wouldn't be much of a chance of Jason courting me, he's just not my type."

"What is your type?" Jake swallowed and kept his calm, he was secretly hoping that he would be her type. Susie smirked and tapped her chin lightly.

"Hmm, I wonder…I like guys who are smart and funny, serious, but at the same time, not too serious." Sam shifted her eyes to Freddie and he gave a slight chuckle. He was probably too serious now. "I would hope they could care about me deeply and maybe they're skilled with a musical instrument. Jake, you play the guitar, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not exactly a perfect singer. At least my singing isn't as bad as it was a few years ago, though!" Sam and Freddie both winced at the memory, they had been hearing a ringing noise for a while after hearing his voice.

"Well, my type doesn't have to be a perfect singer. In fact, I'd rather he not be." Freddie crossed his arms and smirked, Sam raised her eyebrow and stared at him. She hadn't ever heard him sing, but she did know that people said he was a pretty good singer. In fact, even Shannon once told her that she missed out when Freddie started to do a solo in choir. Susie looked at Jake and smiled softly. "My guy has to be pretty soft as well, and I've recently acquired a liking for blondes. All in all, I think these things point to you as my type."

"So, does that mean you will go on a date with me?"

"I hope I don't stutter. Yes, of course I want to go out with you."

"Yes!" Freddie and Sam raised their eyebrows and Jake coughed, straightening himself and starting to imitate a deep voiced person. "I mean, I am honored that you would accept me…" Jake then smirked as he glanced toward Susie. "This is going to be great, as long as I don't use that deep voice." Everyone in the room laughed at the statement, perhaps they were having too much fun. A knock was heard on the door and the group looked over to see Jonah and Valerie waving.

"Oh, I think it's their turn," Freddie stated. "Well, we'll see you in a little bit, Susie."

"Yeah, bye for now," Susie said while letting Freddie give her a hug. Jake and Sam gave her a hug and the trio left the room, letting Jonah and Valerie enter to spend some time with her.

* * *

Yes, that was cute. I hope _you_ liked it though, so let me know.


	27. Two Visions

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 27 (Two Visions)

Sam walked into Susie's hospital room once more, Susie had only one day left before she was able to leave the hospital. Sam, along with everyone else, seemed to visit every single day. She was always glad to see Susie, it was great seeing her smile and excitement. After all, who wouldn't be excited when they had just been granted a second try at life.

Susie had been able to get out of bed and move around over time, if it wasn't for the fact that the doctors wanted to monitor her, she could leave at any time. Susie glanced over at Sam and smiled, glad to see her friend. She was pretty much happy that Sam actually seemed to like talking to her, they had so much to learn from one another. Of course, they never did talk about Shane, though Susie wanted to. Every time she brought up Shane, Sam always changed the subject to something else.

Sam knew that nobody was really fond of him, but he was her boyfriend, and she never did like when people started badmouthing him. At least he hadn't treated her coldly yet. She did know that Carly was pregnant with his child, but both he and Carly had explained valid reasons as to why they wouldn't want to be together. Shane's seemed more valid, though. He said that his parents didn't want him raising a kid at his age, so they put a halt to that plan. Carly didn't really seem to care if Shane was there or not, though she would prefer him to be. She still didn't really trust him.

Sam did question Shane about his life, and he promised that he was different and that he changed. She wasn't sure if he believed that or not, but at least he hadn't done anything. Naturally she would be concerned since her friends were concerned for her, but he promised he wasn't doing anything stupid. She was still going to look out for herself, though. She was sure she couldn't handle yet another heartbreak, if that were even the case. At times, she wished Freddie would actually come by and sweep her off her feet, but she was sure she made him give that hope up, if it ever existed. Though, that was saying that she thought he ever liked her, which she was sure he didn't.

"Hey Sam, how's it going?" Susie asked while keeping her smile. Sam shrugged and sat down in the chair next to Susie's bed.

"Not bad, I thought I'd drop in to say hi before I go off on my date with Shane." Susie frowned and Sam glanced out a window. "He hates being kept waiting it seems, so I don't want to keep him waiting."

"Yeah, I guess." Susie shifted her eyes forward and glanced toward the wall, she never did like the guy. "You know, Freddie wouldn't care if you had to keep him waiting." Sam blushed slightly and shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Yeah well, I'm not dating him, and I don't intend to." Sam leaned back and closed her eyes, she was starting to dream of Freddie. She dreamed that she was in a beautiful field, surrounded by grass, flowers, and pure warmth. Then a man came to her. He was tall, and very handsome. _"Who are you…"_

_I am the one you seek, I am the one who seeks you. I am the one who loves you, and will always keep you safe in my arms._

_"You'll never leave me, then?"_ Sam saw herself taking the man's hands in hers, but she couldn't see his face. Either way, she felt completely safe with him. The man wrapped his arms around her and let her rest her soft head on his chest. She didn't know who the man was, but she felt very safe with him.

_I will never leave you, but you must come to me first. Come to me and here is what your future will look like_. Sam watched as the figure pointed his arm out and saw several shadows playing together. She could hear two little children, a boy and a girl. Then there was the sound of an infant baby, it was being held by a woman who was laughing with a man who had his arm around her waist. The man was making jokes and kissing the woman's cheek. _This memory, this field, and so much more shall be ours if you so desire._ More shadows appeared around the group. Three couples surrounded the group and each of them appeared to be laughing with the group.

"It's so wonderful." Soon, the scenery changed and lighting flashed. Sam shuddered and whimpered in fear as thunder boomed. She hated the scenery. The man changed, and soon he started to feel cold and full of malice and anger. "W-Who are you? You're not the one just before, and what happened to the family? What happened to them all?" The man stared at her with cold and dark eyes, he tilted his head back and laughed, sending fear down her spine.

_I am the one who you have, the one who has you but does not yet have you. I am the one who desires all things, and will so choose to take them by force. If you continue with and choose me, this is the scene that will play out for you. This is what you will have._ Sam watched as the man pointed his arm out, but only two shadows appeared. It was that of a man and a woman. The woman was trying to argue and fight back, but she was wincing under the man's shouts and vicious attacks. The woman looked scarred, as though she had been forced to do several things, including abortion.

"Oh my god…but…"

_You must choose, for the one whose heart you wish to win is in your hands. You have already won his heart, but you must decide whether you will accept it or you will take the heart of a man who despises you._

"Who _is_ the good one!" She wasn't sure why she didn't know. She felt like she knew, but at the same time, the name just wouldn't come to her mind. The shadow turned back to the one that had just been talking to her prior, he gave a slight smile and allowed the scenery to shift.

_You'll figure it out, do not fear. _

"Sam!" Susie exclaimed. "Hey, are you awake!" Sam opened her eyes and chuckled nervously, she glanced at Susie and saw her eyes narrow. "I hope I didn't bore you." Susie then smirked and slowly shook her head. "I seriously had no clue I was so boring."

"Oh don't worry, I'm just tired that's all." Sam stood up and smiled lightly. "So, what were we talking about?"

"I don't know, but it's getting late, I think you're going to be late for your date with Shane." Sam raised her eyebrow and glanced at the clock, her eyes widened when she realized she only had a few minutes left to visit Susie.

"Man this sucks, I really don't want to be late. I'm supposed to meet him at the St. Patrick's hotel. He says he has a couple friends he wants me to meet, and we're going to spend a few hours talking…not sure why he wants to meet in a hotel though." Susie's eyes widened and she quickly cast a worried glance toward Sam. "Crap, I have to run, I'll talk to you later!"

"Sam, wait a minute!"

"Bye!" Sam quickly hurried out of the room, leaving Susie in a panicked state. This was what happened to Carly, she was sure of it. Sam was going to be hurt, and there wasn't anything Susie could do. She frowned and quickly looked around her room, hoping to find something that would work. She spotted the call button for the nurses and quickly pressed it. In a matter of seconds, a nurse entered the room, wondering what Susie needed help with.

"Do you have a phone I can use?" The nurse nodded and walked out of the room, in just a matter of minutes, she walked back in with a phone. Susie quickly grabbed the phone and dialed Freddie's home number, his cell number actually slipped her mind. _"Come on Freddie, answer the phone, please!"_ The nurse watched as Susie started to grow impatient, she was wondering if she needed to help Susie at all. Freddie's phone continued to ring, and Susie groaned as the droning sound rang in her ears. It didn't seem like Freddie or his aunt and uncle were going to pick up. _"No, okay, I probably can get Jake…"_ Susie heard the phone's answering machine start and didn't bother to reply to it. She hung up the phoneand started to dial Jake's cell.

-NEW SCENE-

Jake was talking to Jonah and Freddie while working out at the gym, Freddie was wearing his usual white muscle shirt, and the guys were wearing short sleeved t-shirts. Freddie placed the barbell down and put the weights back on the weight rack, it was Jonah's turn on the weights. Just as Jonah was getting ready to position himself on the bench, Jake's phone began ringing.

Jake listened as Susie's frantic voice rang over the phone, he frowned and looked toward Freddie. "She wants to talk to you," Jake stated. Freddie nodded and took the phone, placing it to his ear. Jonah decided not to lift any weights, but wait and see what was going on, since it seemed like an important call. Jake appeared to be worried as well, so they decided to remain silent as Freddie listened to Susie. He was telling her to calm down and take it slowly so he could understand what was going on.

"Freddie, it's Sam, she's on a date with Shane," Susie started while taking a deep breath. "Only, it's not normal, she's meeting him in a hotel room. She said that she's going to meet a couple of his friends and they're going to do something, but they didn't tell her what. I think they're going to hurt her!" Freddie's mouth opened slightly as he remembered what had happened to Carly, it seemed that Shane was going to do the same thing to Sam. "Freddie, you have to help her, you have to do something! I don't know if she's in danger or not, though."

"I understand, don't worry." He couldn't allow Shane to take advantage of Sam, not only was it wrong, but Sam was far too delicate and innocent for something like that to happen to her. "What hotel did you say this was?" Freddie waited as Susie's frantic voice answered, she also seemed a bit irritated by the nurse next to her. "Hey, if the nurse is bothering you that much, just tell her to go away. Anyway, the St. Patrick's hotel, I'll be there." Freddie hung up the phone and glanced at his two friends, they had worried looks on their faces.

"What's going on, Freddie?" Jonah asked as he slowly stood up.

"It's Shane, he's going to try and take advantage of Sam. I swear…" Freddie clenched his fist and grit his teeth together, anger started to rise in his body. "If he so much as lays a finger on her, I'm going to lay a fist right in the center of that asshole's face." Jonah and Jake nodded in agreement, they were starting to grow angry as well. "I knew I should have kept a closer eye on him, since he did this to Carly and several other girls. That damn bastard treats women as though they were objects!"

"Well he is a womanizer, he and his friends…" Freddie grumbled and waved his hand in the air.

"Come on, we have some filth to clean up. Let's make sure he doesn't try touching Sam, and if he does, we burst in." Jake and Jonah nodded their heads in approval and the group quickly hurried out the gym. They knew the hotel wasn't far, so it wouldn't take them long to get in. They got into Freddie's car and began driving toward the hotel. We'll have to ask for what number Shawn's in."

* * *

Hmm, well I hope you liked that chapter. Let's hope Freddie can get to Sam in time.


	28. Sam's Protector

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

A/N: I decided not to be cruel and gave you this chapter at the same time as that would be cliffhanger. Actually, I will be posting 29 as well. I believe that one does have a cliffhanger. There are 32 total chapters, so that means there's not a lot left.

Chapter 28 (Sam's Protector)

Sam rode the elevator to the twentieth floor and stepped out, she sighed and shifted uncomfortably, she wasn't sure of whom she was meeting. Shane would never do anything to harm her, would he? She shrugged it off and continued down the hall, she was looking for the tenth door on the left. It was supposed to be a "room with a view" by Shane's standards. However, by his standards, it could mean just about anything. She was still very wary of Shawn, and didn't trust him that much, yet it was almost impossible to leave him.

Try as she might, he was able to keep her with him no matter what. It could have been his charm, it could have been his rough demeanor, but something just didn't let Sam go. Sam found the door and sighed as she lifted her hand to knock, she felt several voices in her head starting to scream at her and shout for her to run. Just as she was starting to feel like obliging to those voices, the door opened and Shane was smirking at her. She sighed and started to follow him inside.

"It's good to see you here, I'm glad you didn't keep us waiting," Shane said while walking into the room. Sam stood at the door and slowly closed it, making sure not to let it go into the latch. In case of danger, she could quickly open it. She stepped into the bigger part of the room and spotted a female lying in the right bed, alongside of her were Shane's two friends, Jason and Vash. Sam gulped slightly and watched as Shane walked toward a table. "We thought you weren't going to come, do you want a drink?"

"A drink of what?" Sam eyed the bottle on the table, it didn't look too appealing.

"It is Italian Soda, and very good as well. Don't worry, it's not alcoholic at all." Shane looked toward Sam and smirked. Sam raised her eyebrow and felt beads of sweat starting to form, she had to wonder if he was telling the truth or if he was about to try and get her tipsy and drunk. "Anyway, you know my friends, but I don't think you've met this lady." Shane walked to the girl and took her hand, pulling her from the bed. "This is Candy."

"Oh, it's…nice to meet you, Candy." Candy smiled softly and looked toward Shane with adoring eyes. Sam felt her heart drop, she was just another girl to him. Freddie had been right, Shane was ultimately going to hurt her, and it looked like it was going to be worse than Jonah ever did. "Uh, Shane…" She could feel her heart starting to break and fear starting to rise up. "I'm not feeling well, maybe we could do this another time. What do you think?" Sam took a step back as Shane stepped forward and placed his hand on her arm.

"There's no reason to do that." Shane smirked and started to turn Sam around, she now didn't have her back toward the door. "I think it'd be better if you were here. Besides, Candy was waiting here for you." Sam's eyes widened and she looked over at the girl with fear. "Along with Vash and Jason…" She was starting to panic now, she didn't know what was going on, but she did know that she didn't want any part of it. Shane glanced into her eyes and ran his hand through her hair. "Sam, there's no reason to be afraid, we're all friends here."

"Uh Shane, I'm not so sure…" Candy rolled her eyes and walked over to Sam, she looked like she was chewing on a wad of gum. Sam watched as the girl eyed her up and down.

"Listen Blondie, this is what you wanted when you wanted Shane to date you," Candy said while smacking her lips. "We're just here to talk and have a little fun, there is no harm in having fun, now is there?" Sam chuckled nervously and backed up slightly.

"Who are you calling Blondie? You're blonde as well, hell, you're hair is more blonde than mine."

"Yeah, so should I call you Goldie Locks?" Sam took another step back and screamed as she fell backwards and into Jason's lap. She gasped and glanced up at Jason.

"Well, you're that eager to get down to business already?" Jason asked while grinning. Shane rolled his eyes and sighed as he walked toward Jason and Sam.

"Watch it, Jason," Shane said while narrowing his eyes. "She's my girl, so I have first pick at her." Sam gasped and Candy merely huffed.

"Oh fine, whatever. I thought you were going to have Candy makeout with her first."

"Yeah, well maybe I won't do that this time around." Sam whimpered as Shane took a step closer and Vash moved over toward Jason. She felt Jason wrap his arms around her waist, making sure she didn't get up and run. Vash sat next to Jason and Candy sat on the other side. Sam squirmed and gasped as she felt Vash and Candy place their hands on her arms. Sam's lower lip quivered as Shane stepped in front of her, smirking triumphantly. "Hey babe, don't worry about it, you're my girl."

"Shane, what are you doing? Please, whatever it is, stop it." Candy laughed and gently placed her hand on the side of Sam's face, turning her head toward her.

"Now you listen here," Candy said in a quiet voice. "If you become Shane's girlfriend, you're his no matter what. You can't just ask him not to do what he wants and expect him to oblige. Whatever Shane wants, Shane gets, and right now…" Candy looked at Shane and smirked. "I'd say Shane wants you. Just let me do what I'm supposed to do and get you ready for him." Sam gasped and started to whimper as she felt Candy move her hand down her arm. Vash placed his hand on her leg and started to gradually move it up her thigh.

"No, this is wrong, please don't do this!" Sam felt Shane grasp her face in his hand and smirk, she stared fearfully in his eyes and let the tears fall. She should have listened to Freddie, that was what was going on in her mind. She didn't want to deal with this, she was far too afraid. "Shane, please…" Sam's eyes widened as she felt Vash move his hand up her body, scraping the outside of her shirt. She screamed out as he started to fondle her. "No!"

"Relax Sam," Shane said in a quiet voice.

"Please, no!" Sam screamed out and started squirming more, she kicked and flailed, trying to free herself. "Someone help me! Help me!" Shane grabbed her once more and shook her, trying to silence her. She yelped and bit her lip.

"Now listen here, you're my girl now, so you're going to stop screaming and enjoy this, even if you don't. Do you understand me?" Sam remained silent and everyone waited, watching as her tears rolled down her cheeks. "I said do you understand me!" Sam sobbed and nodded her head. "Good." Shane stepped back and started to grab his belt, Sam's eyes widened as he pulled off his belt.

"What are you doing with that?"

"Just be quiet." Sam let out a frightened whimper and closed her eyes, fearing what was about to come. Just then, she heard the sound of the door being slammed open. She heard someone shout and soon found herself being flung forward. It was more like a blunder, as Jason had stood up quickly and released her. She then found herself landing in someone's strong arms. She opened her eyes and looked up to find herself gazing into Freddie's eyes.

"Freddie." Freddie gazed back into her fearful eyes and grew angry, angry for the fear that was in those beautiful blue eyes. Jonah and Jake stood behind him, rage was coursing through their veins as well. This was the first real time that Sam noticed Freddie had a well built body, he hadn't ever worn a muscle shirt before. "Freddie, you came for me, but how did you find me? You were right…" Freddie growled slightly and let Sam sit on the edge of the bed next to him.

"Susie called. We'll talk later." Freddie narrowed his eyes and glared at Shane with a look that said he was ready to kill if he had to. "Shane, I knew you were a bastard, but I never thought you'd go this far. How dare you touch Sam, you bastard!" Shane crossed his arms and smirked, he shrugged his shoulders in response.

"Like I said, Freddie…it's all in the game. It's just a matter of who plays their card first," Shane replied. "I seized the opportunity first, and I got the girl."

"Uh, maybe it's best to leave them alone," Vash said while taking a nervous glance toward the three. He was shocked by the muscles, and afraid that they would beat him if a fight ensued.

"Shut up, Vash, this is none of your business." Vash chuckled and shook his head, fearing a possible death. Shane closed his eyes and sighed, growing annoyed with Vash's weakness. "If you're so afraid, then why don't you just go away." Vash nodded and quickly ran off. Freddie allowed Vash to run past him and out the hall, he kept his angry glare on Shane.

"What are you going to do?" Jason asked while laughing. He was trying to keep his tough act together, he wasn't about to show weakness or fear. "There's nothing you can do, Shane will mop the floor with you!" Jason laughed again and Freddie cocked an eyebrow, shifting his fearsome glare toward Jason. Jason faltered a bit, but moved back into the game. "What? Are you planning to stop Shane from spending time with his girlfriend or something? You can't do that! Besides, if you do, he'll just crack your skull open." Shane closed his eyes and let out a small sigh.

"Jason, you idiot, shut up and stop trying to act tough, or I will crack _your_ skull open," Shane stated. Jason nodded and took a step back, he saw Freddie shift his angry glare toward Shane. Jake and Jonah decided to surround Sam and hold their glare on Shane. This changed when Jason tried to sneak past them, they grabbed him and slammed him against the wall, holding him in place. Jason grunted as Jake gripped his wrists and slammed them into his back and Jonah pressed his arm into the back of his neck. Shane rolled his eyes and looked to Freddie.

"Come on, she's my girlfriend, what do you care how I treat her?" Shane asked. Freddie growled and kept his eyes narrow.

"She's not your girlfriend anymore, Shane," Freddie stated simply. "I think you've done enough for her, bastard." Shane laughed and looked toward Sam.

"Babe, tell him that we're cool. We're cool, right?" Sam quickly looked away and toward the ground, she made a slight sobbing noise and Freddie's face tightened with anger. Shane started to walk toward Sam, but stopped when Freddie stepped in front of her. "Freddie, what are you doing?"

"Don't take another step, Shane." Freddie sneered and Shane's face dropped slightly.

"Freddie, come on, we used to be best buds, remember?"

"Yeah, that was before you became an asshole and tried to hurt the wrong people, bastard!"

"Oh come on, it's all just harmless fun." Freddie growled and clenched his fists.

"Harmless fun? Is that what you're calling it? Harmless _FUN!_ I don't think terrifying a completely innocent person is categorized as harmless or fun!"

"You see, that's the difference between you and I. I don't think there's anything bad going on, whereas you do." Shane looked toward Sam and took another step, causing her to let out a fearful whimper.

"Damn it, I said not to take another step!" Freddie quickly threw a right hook, hitting Shane across the face and sending him crashing against the ground and nearby bed. Sam and Candy both gasped and looked toward Shane with wide eyes. Sam quickly stood up and rushed to Freddie's side as Candy knelt beside Shane and wrapped her arms around him.

"Shane! Shane, are you all right?" Candy asked while shouting his name out. Shane moaned and opened his eyes, he smirked and slowly pushed himself up. Freddie clenched his jaw as his hands tightened. Shane looked toward Sam and frowned.

"Sam, come on babe, what's going on?" Shane held his arms out and took a step forward.

"Unless you want another blow to the face and a bloody nose, I suggest you step back!" Freddie shouted, barking out his orders. Sam wrapped her arms around Freddie's arm and buried her face in it. "I think Sam's days of dating you are over, Shane." Shane laughed and shook his head in disbelief.

"Sorry, but she knows what she wants, so you can't make that decision for her…She has to make that decision herself." Sam raised her eyebrows and slowly glanced over at Shane, hating him with every bone in her body. "I think she knows what's best for her, and I think we all know who the better man here is."

"You just tried to do God knows what to her, and you have the nerve to act like you're superior. You think you're what's best for her, is that it? Tell me, Shane, how hard did I hit you just now?" Shane chuckled and wiped the corner of his mouth, removing a trickle of blood.

"Not too hard at all, to tell the truth."

"I see, Sam, what is your decision?"

"What, you're asking her?" Freddie ignored Shane and looked to Sam, she glanced up and met the gaze of her protector, the man that she loved. She turned her head and met the gaze of Shane, the man who had tried to take advantage of her. His eyes were cold and dark, whereas Freddie's were warm and gentle.

"Shane, it's over," Sam said with a bitter tone of voice. "I never want to see your face again!"

"Aw, come on babe, you know I didn't mean anything." Shane took another step forward and Freddie let out a growl. "It was just a harmless prank, I wasn't going to really do anything."

"Bastard, your friends were touching me inappropriately, and you were grabbing my face! Not to mention that you took off your belt!" Freddie's eyes widened and his muscles tensed with rage. Sam turned to Freddie and met his gaze. "Jason was holding me down while Vash and Candy were trying to feel me up. Shane took off his belt and grabbed my face, I don't know what he was going to do!"

"Come on babe, it wasn't-"

"Shut the hell up!" Freddie shouted. He swiftly moved from Sam's grasp and grabbed onto Shane's shirt. He then proceeded to slam Shane into the wall and glare into his eyes. "You sick piece of crap! You just _have_ to have everything you want, regardless of how someone feels about it? You just scared the crap out of Sam and you think you can get away with this?" Freddie roared out and slammed his fist into Shane's face, feeling bones cracking. Shane yelped and his hands made contact with his face, his nose had just been broken and blood was now flowing out.

"You know what, I can still sue!"

"You try it, you won't have much of a case, bastard. You know why?" Freddie pulled Shane close and lowered his voice to an angry whisper. "Because what you did was sexual assault, and what I just did was punching you while defending Sam from a potential rapist. Let me know who has the stronger case, asshole. You think I'm going to let you touch the woman I love? I don't give a damn who you are, or if you're dating her, it's still unacceptable!"

"Fine!" Shane pushed Freddie off and dusted his clothes while holding his hand over his bloody nose. He looked over as Jake slammed his elbow into Jason's back, causing Jason to scream in pain.

"Why did you do that to me!" Jason exclaimed.

"Jason, quit your whining. We're not wanted here, and I guess we're finished." Shane looked over at Sam and smirked lightly. "Well babe, I guess this is the end of you and me, but fret not, there are plenty of girls in the se-"

"Get the hell out of here, Shane," Freddie said while emitting a threatening growl.

"Whoa now, fine, I'm gone." Shane shook his head and walked out of the hotel room, Jason and Candy followed afterwards. Jake and Jonah stared at the door and glanced back to Sam and Freddie.

"God Freddie, why didn't I listen to you?" Sam asked as she slowly fell to her knees. Freddie quickly knelt down in front of her and placed his hands on her arms.

"You're okay, Sam," Freddie stated. "You're safe."

"Why don't you just say 'I told you so' and get it over with? I mean, you did say Shane was probably going to hurt me." Freddie pulled Sam into a hug and let her cry into his chest, he gently rubbed her back and ran his hand through her hair.

"I have nothing to prove, and I hate that he would hurt you. I would never say I told you so, because I wouldn't want that. Sam, you're strong, you'll be okay. Believe me, me even going near that phrase is like me saying that I wanted that bastard to harm you, and you should know that's the last thing I'll do."

"Freddie, will you ever leave me?" Freddie didn't even need to think about his answer, he already knew that he would stay by her side as long as she wanted him there.

"Never, I will never leave you…I'm your best friend, you know I care the world about you."

"Yeah, you're my best friend, nothing more I guess." Freddie sighed and slowly stood up, helping Sam to her feet.

"Would you like to rest? Lie down in the bed and get some rest, okay." Sam slowly nodded and crawled into the bed, Freddie got onto the other bed and Jonah sat in a chair while pressing the television remote. Freddie glanced over as Sam curled under the covers, letting her tears hit the pillow. She was still afraid.

"Freddie, could you come and sit next to me?" He smiled and nodded as he got off the bed and moved over to Sam's bed. He sat on the bed and propped his back against the wall. "Thank you. Thank you for everything, Freddie."

"You're welcome." Sam closed her eyes and smiled, drifting away into sleep. Freddie lowered his voice to a whisper and brushed Sam's bangs from her eyes. "I love you, Sam." Jonah glanced up and smiled at the display as Jake checked the rooms and made sure the door was locked, he didn't want Shane returning.

* * *

Hopefully you liked that one. I know people are complaining about how I write lately, and personally I'm getting sick of that. After all, if you don't like how I write, then write the story yourself. Next chapter will be up.


	29. Change of Heart and Mind

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 29 (Change of Heart and Mind)

Rueben and Shannon stood outside the hotel where Shane and his friends had been in, they saw Freddie rush in. Shannon was tired because she knew Freddie had gone in for Sam. She crossed her arms and frowned, she knew she wasn't going to get Freddie's heart if Sam was there, so there wasn't much she could do about it.

"I guess I won't win his heart," Shannon said in a quiet voice. Rueben frowned and shrugged his shoulders. "What about you, Rueben, will you continue going after Sam?" Rueben blinked and glanced toward the sky as he crossed his arms over. "Well? What are you going to do? Do you seriously still think that you're going to win Sam's affections?" Shannon nearly scowled and Rueben closed his eyes. Shannon's words rang through his head over and over again. Sam, Shannon, and almost every other girl seemed to like Freddie. "Hey, butt face, I'm talking to you." Reuben opened his eyes and scoffed lightly.

"I don't want Sam," Rueben answered. Shannon raised his eyebrow and Rueben walked off slightly, he had stopped liking Sam as more than a friend years ago. Shannon tilted her head slightly and frowned, she felt bad because he actually looked dejected. "No way do I want her affections anymore. I start talking like normal, hoping to impress her, but I know fully that she isn't going to be impressed with me. Why? Well, the answer is simple, she likes Freddie. No, she _loves_ Freddie, and I've gotten over her a long time ago." Rueben waved his hand through the air and continued walking.

"You must like _someone_ then." He nodded and Shannon quickly followed after him, forgetting all about Freddie. He did not stop walking, nor did he look back. "Hey, hold up! I want to talk to you. You just nodded, so you do like someone, but who is it?" He shrugged and picked up his pace, waking faster and getting away from Shannon. "Rueben, come on. Tell me who it is! I want to know." He chuckled and she merely sighed. "You know, lately I've been feeling a little differently. Sort of like…maybe I've been trying to win a different man's heart and not Freddie's."

"Whatever you say, Shannon, I don't care anymore." Shannon's eyes widened slightly and she started to feel as though she was going to fall to her knees and cry. She didn't want Rueben to leave her behind; she wanted him to stay with her. Perhaps she did overdo it with her trying to get Freddie to like her; perhaps she truly did miss the obvious. She thought about Sam's words spoken to her once before, about it being possible the one for her was right under her nose. Her eyes widened more and her lip quivered. She whispered his name from her lips. "Rueben…"

"Hey, it's you!" A voice stated. Shannon turned around and gasped when she saw Brian staring at her, a smirk was graced onto his lips. "How is it going, babe, did you miss me?" Shannon gulped lightly and took a step back. Brian flashed a bright smile and took a step toward her. His hands were in his pockets and his eyes were narrow. "I've been missing you, babe." She looked past him and saw Shane and his two friends watching the scene, their eyes were wide.

"Get away from me!" She lifted her hand to slap him, but he quickly grabbed her wrist. "No…" She pulled back and grunted. "Help me! Save me!"

"It's no use, you know that we always get what we want." Shane narrowed his eyes and watched as Shannon struggled against her captor. He could see himself in the display. Shannon yelled and brought her other hand up, but Brian quickly grabbed it. Shannon couldn't free herself, so she continued to shout and struggle. She managed to turn around, but he held her wrists behind her back and pressed her against a wall.

"Let me go! I don't want to do this!" Of course, none of the girls wanted to go through this. Shane ran his fingers through his hair and groaned, for the first time in his life, he was starting to feel sick at the womanizing actions. Had this been happening? Had he been doing this before? Yes, of course. Even Sam begged him to stop, and Freddie came to stop him. Shane was only watching what he had done from another perspective. "Let me go! Please stop it, this hurts!" Carly, he had done it to Carly. It was different with her, but only slightly. Shane growled and took a step forward, he opened his mouth.

"Let her go!" Shane didn't shout it, but he was about to. Shannon's eyes widened and Brian froze, Rueben had shouted it. Brian looked to the right and saw Rueben charging toward him. "She said stop!" Brian gulped as Rueben clenched his fist and sent it flying through the air. He released Shannon in time to feel Rueben's fist cracking into his face.

"Crap!" Brian shouted as he fell to the ground. Shannon quickly ran to Rueben and sobbed into his chest as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Rueben, thank you," Shannon said through choked sobs. Jason and Vash quickly ran from Shane's side and helped Brian to his feet. Brian shrugged them off and glared at Rueben and Shannon, he scoffed and turned around, defeated. Rueben glared at Brian and kept his arms around the girl he was protecting. Just then, a police car parked in front of Brian. John and Emily Benson stepped out of the car and stared at Brian, he let out a small groan and sighed. Shannon sniffed and looked at them. "He tried to rape me!"

"We saw, it will be okay," Emily said in a calm and gentle voice. Emily turned her head toward Brian and narrowed her eyes as she stepped in front of him. "You, I've heard of you, you're a womanizer? So, you get a _kick_ out of making women fear you, is that it? Do you enjoy controlling them? Guess what, you just picked the wrong day to tick me off."

"What? You think I care?" Brian asked. Apparently they had been on patrol and saw what was happening. "It's just another girl, so what." Emily sneered and swiftly slapped her hand across Brian's face, hitting him hard. "Ah! Damn it, I thought cops weren't supposed to do that!"

"Emily will do it," John said as he smirked and moved Brian's wrists behind his back. "You're under arrest for the attempted rape of this young woman. Do you have anything you want to say?"

"I shouldn't have done it…out in the open." John sighed and Emily rolled her eyes.

"Well where you are going, you won't be doing it again." John walked Brian to the car and opened the back door. "You don't know how much trouble you're in." Brian shrugged as John shoved him into the back seat and slammed the door shut. Shane narrowed his eyes as he watched that, it could have been him. It should have been him, he knew it. Emily shifted her eyes toward Vash and Jason, she narrowed them and crossed her arms.

"Hey, we're not with him!" Vash said in a quick voice.

"No, but I do believe Freddie has told me that you two are womanizers as well," Emily said in a quiet voice.

"No! We've never done anything to the extent of Brian," Jason said in a quiet and low voice.

"This is true," Vash replied. "In fact, we'll never do this again! We promise!" Emily narrowed her eyes and the two people sunk back and gulped.

"If we ever hear anything more about you two, we'll take you in," Emily stated. She looked over at the car and saw Brian glaring out at everyone. "I'm sure your friend would love your company."

"No, not at all, we won't be doing anything like what he did, we promise!"

"You better not." Emily entered the passenger side of the car while John entered the driver's side. Vash and Jason watched as the car sped off, taking their friend away. They turned around and looked at Rueben and Shannon.

"Are you okay?" Rueben asked in a quiet voice. He lifted his hand and brushed Shannon's hair back. She nodded and he let out a soft sigh. "Good, I don't know what I'd do if you were hurt."

"You saved me, Rueben, I don't know how to thank you," Shannon replied. She closed her eyes and felt a tear roll down her face.

"Maybe a kiss would work." He was joking, but it didn't matter. Shannon lifted her head up and kissed his lips, taking him by surprise. He closed his eyes and tightened his grasp around her waist. It was the most pleasurable feeling that they ever experienced. It felt as if they were meant for each other. Shannon broke the kiss and looked into his eyes. "Shannon…"

"Will that work, Rueben?" He was speechless, he had never expected her to do that. "I don't want someone that doesn't feel the same for me that I feel for them, and that's why I know Freddie is wrong for me. Then there's you, you've cared for me all along…I can't believe I didn't see it…"

"So, you're over him?" Shannon nodded her head and Rueben smiled as he gently kissed her forehead. "I'm glad. Does this mean you will go out with me on Saturday?"

"Rueben, say it like you would back before!" She just wanted to hear it, and he was unsure of whether he should.

"Um, do you want to…ride pigs…across the prairie with me on Saturday?" Shannon giggled and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"Of course I do, and for the record, I think that's cute what you just said. Just don't talk like that _all_ the time." Rueben smirked and shrugged his shoulders, he wouldn't do that.

Shane sighed and walked toward his friends, Vash and Jason, he wasn't sure what he was going to tell them. They looked at him and grabbed his arms, pulling him away. "Shane, we can't do this anymore!" Vash said in a quick voice. He knew that, he knew what he was doing was wrong. He needed to change the way he acted, or else he was going to end up like Brian.

"Do you want to be like Brian?" Jason asked while raising his eyebrows. "That was Freddie's mom and Dad, I'm surprised they didn't arrest us. That means Freddie didn't call them."

"He should have," Shane said in a quiet voice. He fell to the ground and placed his hands to his face. "I know I'm a bastard, I'm a goddamn bastard. Why did they not arrest me as well?"

"You have a reason to continue," Vash said while crossing his arms. "You can change. There's an opportunity for you to take a second chance, and you need to take it." Shane raised his eyebrow and looked up at his friends. "Don't you have a baby along the way?"

"Carly!" Shane's eyes widened and he quickly stood up. He frowned and made a groaning sound. "She doesn't want anything to do with me, though. That baby inside of her…she doesn't want me to go near them."

"You need to try." Vash placed his hands on Shane's shoulders and looked into his eyes. "Jay and I will back you up, but we can't do this anymore."

"I realize that!" Shane pushed Vash off of him and sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair. "What I just saw, I saw myself…Womanizing isn't a game, it's a crime."

"If you promise to change, then I'm sure Carly will accept you. If you promise never to do what you have been doing…think of that baby, too."

"I love children."

"Then go to Carly. It's better than the alternative." Shane nodded and quickly turned to run off, he knew he didn't deserve a second chance, but he had to be a man. He had to be there for Carly, he had to be there for her baby.

* * *

So we see that Shane is changing. Will Carly give him a second chance? What will happen? Stay tuned.


	30. A Second Chance

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 30 (A Second Chance)

Carly took a drink from her glass of milk and sighed, she was pretty tired, as she had been up most of the night. She placed her hand on her stomach and frowned, she may not want Shane to be with her, but if he ever changed his act, then she would consider him. Spencer wasn't fond of Shane, that was true. He wanted Shane dead, but he wasn't going to do anything. Freddie had called her up and told her what had happened with Sam, that fact alone made her pretty angry. She wanted to see Shane so she could slap him and kick him to the ground, she would give him hell.

She sighed and leaned against the counter, her anger only continued to grow. She closed her eyes and groaned in pain, her head was pounding like crazy. She opened her eyes and looked to the door, she was hearing footsteps running down the hall. The door quickly opened and Shane stepped into the doorway, behind him were his two friends. Carly narrowed her eyes and watched as Shane stepped forward, his eyes were connected with hers. He was sweating from all the running he had done, so she knew whatever he needed it must have been pretty important.

"Oh, did you just get done having an intimate session with some girl out there?" Carly asked as she took another sip of her drink. Shane winced and watched as Carly placed the glass on the counter. She pushed her self forward and clenched her fists, she really didn't need Shane to be there at the moment. "I'm guessing you're here to tell me all about the hot moment you just had." Shane gulped, but knew he deserved what Carly was saying. His two friends just looked at him and watched as he shook. "Oh, by the way, I got a call. You'll _never_ guess from whom."

"F-Freddie…"

"Yes, it was Freddie. He told me you just tried to hurt Sam!" Carly quickly lifted her hand and slapped him across the face. "You bastard, that was my best friend! It's not like you have a baby on the way or anything! What? You have to go have your little womanizing fun? Is that it?" She slapped him across the face once more, and he merely stood and let her shout at him. He deserved every bit of it. "You'll never quit, will you? What is it going to take for you to start acting like a man and not some goddamn crap face?"

"I'm going to change, I will." Carly raised her eyebrow and scoffed, obviously not believing him. "I promise you, I'm going to stop. I just saw my friend get taken away, and it made me realize how wrong I was."

"Oh, is that it? You just now realized the wrong that you've been doing? I see, who the hell do you think you are! If you were half of a man, then maybe you would have figured it out long ago, but no, you had to go and try to hurt my best friend in the process!"

"Sorry won't cut it, I know. Yet, I've realized-"

"I hope Freddie's punch knocked some sense into you, that's what I'm hoping."

"It did. I know I don't deserve a second chance, but please…I'll never do what I've been doing. Let me stay with you, let me help raise your baby." Carly narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms, listening to Shane as he spoke. "What I've been doing, it's wrong, I know that. I can't leave you alone to raise the baby. I will love you, I will love this child. It is a precious angel, and I want to raise it with you. Please, let me have that second chance."

"If I give you a second chance…Sam and Freddie will never talk to me. Sam will never want to look at your face again; and I don't blame her…You can never be around me when they are, and they would be around me quite often. For me to let you have that second chance, iCarly would be finished."

"What's more important, Carly? Is iCarly more important than making sure that beautiful child has two parents and not one? That child needs to grow up, he can't have only one parent. Can you honestly raise it on your own?"

"I could try…but no, I probably can't." Shane stared at Carly and closed his eyes, he dropped to his knees and Carly stared down at him. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Give me that second chance I know I don't deserve it, but I want it! I will never hurt another woman, I will never look at another one! You're the only one. I will love only you and the baby. I will raise the child. Please let me have another chance. I promise that I will be better than who I used to be." Shane clasped his hands together and continued to grovel.

Vash and Jason looked at their friend with frowns on their faces, they knew he was trying hard. He was genuine in his desire. Carly raised her eyebrow and rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms. She sighed and lowered her arms, her fists were clenched. "Just shut up!" Shane stopped and looked up at her. "Stand up and stop your blubbering." Shane slowly stood up and looked into Carly's eyes. "You want another chance? I shouldn't give it to you, I should hate you. Freddie hates you, and Sam too."

"I deserve that…"

"No crap? The only way I would accept your offer is if I knew you were serious. You seem serious enough, but how do I know you're not going to turn around at some point of time and do the same thing you've been doing? How do I know you won't raise this kid to grow up and be exactly like you?" Carly lifted her hand and pointed toward his friends, her voice still rising. "Do you expect me to believe they're going to prevent you from it!" Shane glanced back at them and frowned.

"They would help…"

"No, because with them, you're still connected to your past…so if you're serious, then you need to cut all ties with your past. Starting over, a second chance, it involves removing all instances of your past." Shane sighed and closed his eyes as he turned toward Vash and Jason. Carly raised her eyebrow and watched as Shane stepped toward his friends. They looked at him with sad eyes, but they knew Carly was right. They couldn't be friends with Shane when they were so troublesome. Besides, it had been them that made Shane what he was today.

"Guys, this is it. I have to turn from my old ways, so I have to part with you two." Vash and Jason nodded their heads and Shane held out his hand, this was it, this was him officially removing his old life. "Goodbye." His friends shook his hand and stepped back.

"Goodbye, Shane," Vash said quietly. Jason nodded and shifted his eyes to the corner. It was a sad moment for them, but it had to be done. His two friends turned around and slowly left the apartment. Carly turned around and walked toward the counter.

"Now you leave," Carly said as she took a sip of her milk. Shane turned around and crossed his arms.

"I'm not leaving." Carly coughed and raised her eyebrow, he would leave. She turned around and leaned against the counter.

"Sam will cease to be my friend because you tried to assault her. A victim of that can't bear to look at her attacker without feeling highly nauseous and sick. So, it's inevitable. Freddie will also stop since he loves Sam and was mad enough at you. Why don't you go find some girl who you probably won't hurt?"

"I'm not leaving you." Carly raised her eyebrow and scoffed.

"You'll be bound to me, one woman, for the rest of your life. You won't ever get to be with another woman. You will be raising a child as well. This will go on for the remaining bit of your life. You're free to leave right now." Shane closed his hands and watched as Carly sipped her glass of milk.

"I am _not _going to leave you." He knew what she was doing, she was testing him. She was testing to see if he would truly remain faithful or if he would leave her behind. Carly sighed and placed the glass on the table.

"Remember, I may not be as good as all those other women you could get. You won't be satisfied enough."

"I am satisfied. I'm tired of all those other women. Allow me to start clean, I will not leave you. I will not make you raise that baby on your own."

"You seem pretty determined and strong in your position."

"I am." Carly made a humming sound and stepped closer to Shane, narrowing her eyes.

"So, do you know what I'm going to do if you do ever leave me?"

"What?"

"I'm going to make sure you turn into a vegetable like state. There are so many things I can do to you."

"I would allow you to do so." Carly smirked and tilted her head slightly to the right.

"From this point on, Shane…you can't look at another woman in a lustful way. You are to remain with me and help me raise this child. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yes." Carly closed her eyes and sighed.

"Fine, I'll give you that second chance." Shane smiled and quickly hugged Carly, causing her to groan. "Pregnant woman here…"

"Sorry!" Shane quickly released her and looked over toward a vase. He grabbed a flower from the vase and handed it to Carly, causing her to give a sigh and smile. "I promise, I won't let you down!"

"Yeah, yeah, I believe you already!"

* * *

Nobody better say Carly is OOC. Carly is pregnant, while also angry at Shane, she has reason to act in such a manner. I hope you liked the chapter. There are only two left


	31. The Winner

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 31 (The Winner)

The next day, Susie was out of the hospital and Sam was already waiting for her. Susie smiled as Sam took her wrist and hurried toward a car, she had not forgotten the promise she made to Susie. Although, Susie had to admit that she sort of forgot the promise. Either way, they were going to Brahms and for the first time in months, Susie was going to eat solid food and ice cream.

They entered into Sarah's car and sat in the back, both girls were equally excited. Susie could safely say one thing, she hadn't felt as alive as she was then in a very long time. Her parents kept saying to Sarah that they were so indebted to her, and how if it hadn't been for her, they would have lost their precious daughter. Sarah was a hero to many, even though she really didn't think she deserved all that praise. At most, being a hero to Sam and Susie was just enough for her.

Sam only had to listen as Susie told her all about the things that she had felt during the months and during the few days that she had been in the hospital. The fear, the anger, the sorrow, and finally the joy was just everlasting. As Susie spoke, she recounted her memories and all that gave her various emotions to feel. She made jokes with Sam and laughed, for the first time in so long, she could actually laugh. Sam was happy to see her laughing, since it was a sign of life. Even Susie's eyes shimmered with more life than Sam remembered seeing.

Sarah was glad as well, she managed to find someone to use that cure on, and that made the medicine able to be used by the doctors around the world. Then her daughter seemed to have found a new friend, and that was definitely a good thing. She could remember Sam complaining about how Freddie was spending all his time with Susie, but now it seemed Sam wouldn't complain about Susie anymore and would actually be the girl's friend. Sarah smiled as she parked in the restaurant parking lot; she placed her arm on the top of the seat and looked back. "Okay girls, we're here! Call me when you need me to pick you up."

"Okay, we'll do that, thanks Mom!" Sam said in a quick voice. She and Susie left the car and laughed for the sake of laughing while making their way into the building. "Okay Susie, what do you want to try first, the hamburger or the ice cream?" Susie smiled and looked at the menu.

"I'm thinking I want option number three, that looks the best," Susie replied. Sam looked at the menu board and smiled.

"No way, that's my favorite!" Susie smiled as she and Sam made their way to the front counter. The cashier looked at them and smiled as Sam pointed to the board. "We want two of the number three hamburger combo, please." The clerk nodded and told them what the price would be. Sam took out her wallet and paid the person. She got the receipt and found that she'd have to wait until number thirty five was called out. "Okay, let's sit down." Susie nodded and the two walked toward the table.

"So, what happened with you and that one guy?" Sam shrugged and looked out the window.

"It's over between us. Freddie came and saved me before anything happened."

"Ooh, so he's your hero." Susie smirked and Sam blinked. "That's right, Freddie's your knight in shining armor." Sam blushed at the statement and shook her head.

"No, it's not like that! He's just…well…" Her blush didn't fade, so Susie smiled and closed her eyes halfway.

"You _know_ you love him, and I know it too. Face it, it's very clear and very obvious that you do!"

"Yeah, but he…he's with you, isn't he?" Susie chuckled lightly and looked over as their number was called. "I'll get that." Sam moved to the counter and picked up the food, she smiled and walked back to the table. "Here is the food, let's get ready to eat."

"Yeah, for the first time in months I'll be able to eat solid food and not have it come back up. Take that Terrance!" Sam laughed as Susie punched a fist in the air. Susie picked up her hamburger and placed it at her mouth, she narrowed her eyes and smirked at Sam. "I don't know if you know this, but I've always been the fastest eater around."

"No way, I'm the fast eater."

"I haven't had a hamburger in months, so I'm coming back. If you think you can beat me." Sam smirked and picked up her sandwich, she was up for the challenge. Both girls bit into their food and started to eat at a fast pace. If anyone was watching them, that person would think they hadn't eaten in years. The girls continued their munching race for five minutes, both finishing off the hamburger at the same time. "Hm, it was pretty close, Sam."

"No, it can't be, we tied!" Sam quickly took the fries and smirked at Susie. "Shall re check out the fries?" Susie raised her eyebrow and smirked back.

"Oh yeah, we can't forget those." She took her fries and placed them in front of her. "Rules…"

"One fry at a time, and no more than that…if you grab more than one, put the second one down."

"Good, those are the rules I abide by." The race was on. The girls started eating the fries, quickly finishing them off and ending at the same time. "We tied again, but I swear that tasted so good."

"Yeah, I bet it would taste good to you, seeing what you've been through." Susie nodded and sighed as she placed her hand to her stomach.

"It's staying down, and I don't feel like puking. In fact, I feel as though I'm more alive than ever." Sam laughed and nodded her head.

"Yeah, but be careful not to overdo it with the eating, you don't want to get sick from eating too much." Susie closed her eyes and leaned back.

"I don't care if I get sick from eating too much, it beats getting sick from eating at all."

"I can agree with that." Sam placed the trash onto the tray and took it over to the trashcan. She poured the trash in and walked back to the table. "Okay, now it is time for ice cream!"

"You know it!" The girls laughed and walked over to the counter, they looked down at all the ice cream choices and smiled. "Okay, I want a double dip cone with rocky road and mint chocolate chip." The clerk nodded and started scooping the ice cream up. He handed the ice cream to Susie and looked over at Sam.

"I'll have the same."

"You like those flavors?"

"Yep, I always get them." The clerk handed Sam the ice cream and she paid him the money. The two then walked back to the table and sat down. Sam took a bite and looked over at Susie, she was staring at her ice cream. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing, it's just…it's been so long since I've been able to eat this, and now…" Susie smiled and felt tears running down her face.

"Now it's your turn to be happy, right? Take a bite of that and taste new life all over again."

"Yeah, you're right." Susie took a bite of the frozen treat and let it rest on her tongue. Sam smiled and licked her own ice cream. Susie could feel the wonderful taste cooling her tongue, she swallowed and felt the cold treasure oozing down her throat. It was a sensation that she hadn't felt in so long, and here she tasted it once more. It tasted like heaven, it tasted like a perfect utopia. "Sam, this is so perfect."

"I know, right?" Sam paused and looked at her ice cream, she then glanced over at Susie and smiled "So, you weren't really trying to win Freddie's heart back?"

"No, I believe we already had that discussion. You know my answer." Sam nodded as Susie licked her ice cream once more.

"Yeah, I bet you're excited to go on that date with Jake."

"Yes! I haven't been on a date in years, you know." Sam licked her ice cream and raised her eyebrows.

"I get what you mean there."

"Did you know Freddie can do bird calls, I bet he does some for you soon. Has he told you how he felt yet?"

"No, but I'm still wondering about that…" Susie tapped her chin lightly and shrugged her shoulders.

"He likes you. I mean come on, it's pretty obvious. You say he punched Shane in the face when he rescued you." Sam smiled and blushed lightly. "If you ask me, I think he cares the world about you. I have an eye for these kinds of things, and I say you two make an excellent pair."

"Yeah, but I still don't know if it'll ever happen."

"I think it will. I was right about Jonah and Valerie, I was positive about Champ and Morgan, and I'm saying that I think it will happen with you and Freddie."

"Yeah, but I bet you've been wrong before."

"Many times, yes, but I'm not wrong this time." Susie smirked and took another bite of her ice cream. _"Of course I'm not wrong, Freddie himself told me he wanted to date you."_

"Would you be willing to take that bet?" Susie chuckled and raised her eyebrow.

"Sure, but I'm positive he will, so you might lose." Sam chuckled and smirked at her friend.

"If you win, I'll pay Freddie back every dime that he lost to me whenever we bet each other."

"That's fine by me. If I lose, I'll go ahead and give you a gift certificate to that Italian Restaurant, Johnny Carino's."

"Ooh, nice wager, I'll take it." Sam frowned and leaned back in her seat. "I heard from Carly that she and Shane got together…I don't know how to respond to that."

"What do you mean? She's your friend, right?"

"Yes, but it's too hard for me to accept that she's with that…that bastard. This kind of thing can ruin our friendship…I can barely think about him without getting sick and remembering what he almost did to me. It's that hard."

"So what are you thinking?"

"It may be the end of our friendship…and maybe the end of iCarly as well." Susie frowned and gave Sam a comforting smile.

"Don't think too much on it right now. Rather, think of what makes you happy, like…life!" Sam laughed and smiled back.

"Yeah, life is great. You know, I just can't believe that we're actually friends now, I mean…"

"I know, I know, you thought I was going to take Freddie from you." Sam looked down with slight embarrassment. "Well I'm not, so be happy."

"Yeah, that's true." Sam smiled and Susie took another bite of her ice cream. "You know what else I can't believe? This was awesome…Valerie called me up and told me that she saw Rueben and Shannon together, they're actually dating!" Susie grinned and closed her eyes, she knew those two would get together. "You and Jake…those two….everyone seems to be finding their happy ending. Everyone seems to be getting someone's heart, but what about me?"

"It'll come."

"Yeah, but when? That's the question…" Susie glanced out the window and smirked, she lifted her eyebrows and pointed toward the doors. "What?" Sam looked over and her eyes widened, almost like a posse, Freddie entered the doors with Jake, Jonah and Champ behind him. Following the guys, Valerie and Morgan entered and walked to Susie's side.

"Freddie!" Sam quickly stood up and caught his glance, he had a smile on his face. Susie slowly stood up and grinned. If anything, the scene looked like two groups with their leaders negotiating. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you, obviously," Freddie said as he stepped close to Sam. She froze underneath his gaze and stared into his strong eyes. She wasn't sure exactly what was going on, but she liked it. She almost dropped her cone, but Freddie caught it by placing his hand on it and over Sam's hand. "Don't lose that."

"T-Thanks, Freddie." Sam managed to keep herself from sighing and fainting on the spot. Though, she could feel the heat starting to rise. He lifted her ice cream and took a bite out of it, her jaw dropped and he gave a subtle smirk.

"That's for when you would lick my ice cream cone just to bug me."

"I would shove this down your pants, but…"

"I don't think you're going to do that…" Sam raised her eyebrow and felt Freddie place his hand on her back and pull her closer.

"Freddie, what are you doing?" He placed his other arm around her waist and gazed into her eyes.

"I'm looking at the most beautiful thing in the world."

"Oh, and right in front of your ex girlfriend, too?"

"Yeah, but she doesn't mind, right Susie?" Susie chuckled lightly and nodded her head in response. "Sam, I should have just told you this before. I've fallen for you, and I want you to come with me on a date."

"W-What?" Sam's eyes were wide and Freddie gave her a soft smile.

"Don't you know? You stole my heart long ago. I think you've earned it as well…Every guy needs a girl, and every girl needs a guy. Maybe it'll take some time, but eventually the right girl will win the guy's heart. Susie's earned Jake's heart, Valerie's got Jonah's heart, and Morgan has Champ's heart. So, who is the girl that won my heart?"

"You…" Sam's eyes widened slightly and Freddie nodded. Her friends and his friends all stepped forward, locking arms with their mate.

"You've taken my heart. I love you, Sam." Sam smiled at him and closed her eyes as she felt him kiss her lips. It was passionate, it was steamy, and it was the greatest feeling she ever had. She didn't care that she had just dropped her ice cream cone on the floor. She only cared that finally, she had won Freddie's heart.

* * *

The next chapter is the epilogue, it doesn't really have much dialogue, but you'll enjoy it.


	32. El Fin

Winning His Heart

Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly, nor do I own the movie Gym Teacher

A/N: The characters are 16 in this story. Thoughts are once more in _italics_ and regular speech in regular font.

* * *

Chapter 32 (El Fin)

Twenty years later a party was taking place. It was at the home of a couple and three kids. The celebration was an anniversary party, honoring the marriage of two people. The home was in the country and a lake was behind the house. The couple in question were none other than Freddie and Sam. They dated for seven years before getting married, having chosen to get married after college.

With them, they had a thirteen year old daughter, a six year old son, and a one year old little girl. The oldest child was named Angie, the son was Daniel, and the baby girl was Amy. They were all in the back yard, celebrating with cake and ice cream. Sam and Freddie had their best friends with them as well. Jonah, Valerie, Jake, Susie, Champ, and Morgan were all celebrating the anniversary with them. It was definitely a time of fun and celebration. What other way to spend the anniversary of the greatest time of your life than with your family and friends.

That wasn't to say they didn't celebrate other things together. They always celebrated the anniversary of the day Susie's life was saved from that deadly disease. Everyone would get together once a year and go have dinner or do something else that was fun and not something they got to do often. They also celebrated her anniversary with Jake, of course. They had gotten married about a year after Sam and Freddie did. The first of the group to get married had actually been Jonah and Valerie, they got married around the start of college.

Champ and Morgan had two anniversaries to celebrate as well, one of which was the day that Champ rescued Morgan from the waters at the beach. Over time, she actually got over her fear of water and began to swim again. Even though she got over her fear of water, whenever the anniversary of that day came around, she stayed the hell away from the water. Along with the other two couples, they actually lived close to Sam and Freddie as well. They all wanted to stay close to each other and remain friends for as long as they could.

Sam wound up not being able to get anywhere near Shane without getting flashbacks, bad memories, and feeling very sick. So the friendship with Carly had ended not long after she and Shane had gotten back together. It was okay, since everyone pretty much expected that to happen. There really wasn't any way around it, either. iCarly had come to a quick end, but Valerie's webshow with Susie and Jonah remained on the air for about ten years after, until they finally felt they were too old for it and they had to end it.

Nobody was sure what happened to Carly and Shane, since they stopped talking to them many years ago. Carly never did become an actress, she never really wanted to. Unbeknownst to the group, Carly and Shane had moved to Florida where Carly taught at a middle school level. Shane actually kept his promise to Carly and never messed around with another woman, he was strictly a one woman man. He was also fortunate that Sam, nor any others had ever decided to file assault charges on him. Of course, the fear that his past would come back to haunt him would always remain on his mind. Carly had to constantly remind him that all would be fine.

Shane ended up owning a woodshop, so he became a carpenter. That was fine in his mind, it was a hobby that would keep him satisfied of course. He never saw his two friends, Vash or Jason ever again. Of course, he did see Brian one time in the future. Brian had been in jail for eight years, made it out, but was once more put in jail for the buying and selling of drugs. After three years out of prison, he was charged with the rape of five women. He is currently serving life in prison for his crimes, a relief to everyone who knew him. No one felt guilty for wishing that Brian would die a huge death.

Rueben and Shannon had been married as well, but they didn't get married until they reached twenty five. They believed that twenty five was an appropriate age to get married. They both had apologized profusely for causing Sam and Freddie so much trouble, and over the years, both Sam and Freddie had continued to forgive them. They finally stopped after some time, which pretty much was a good thing, since it tired everyone out. Currently, they lived in Minnesota with a beautiful baby girl that they named Megan. She was their life and their greatest joy to have.

Rueben was a business man for a very large and powerful corporation, and he obviously felt overworked every now and then. The two things that made him smile were the smiles of his beloved wife and daughter. He was thankful that Shannon had come around and realized who had been there for her through it all. Even if it took almost forever.

As for Vash and Jason, nobody really knew what happened to them. They stayed away from everyone for years. It was possible that they stopped being friends with each other as well, since they didn't really make good friends. Shane did try to contact them once a few years back, and managed to connect with both of them. It was revealed that Vash had become a guidance counselor and Jason was living in China and owned a major restaurant chain. Neither man really felt comfortable with talking about the past, so they had tried their best to move on and forget.

The man that actually killed Freddie's first mom had been released and returned to being a gym competitor and coach. However, he didn't get far because of his record, so he once tried out for the Olympics. As far as being an Olympic runner went, he was often on the losing side. His greatest competition was none other than Champ, but he could only dream and hope to get anywhere near him. Champ was pretty much a champion at almost everything he did, but Freddie was still better at him, despite the fact that Freddie didn't participate in sports.

Morgan was involved in sports somewhat, but she really didn't feel a need to compete like her husband. What she did was be involved in the lives of her two little daughters. They were the ones that made her value her life so much more than she ever could. She couldn't be any more thankful for her husband, her hero, and her champion for saving her life on that fateful day. She took care of her daughters and was glad to see that they were excelling at almost everything they did as well. The elder was great at athletics while the other was pretty book smart, but both girls were the greatest girls she could want. So she and Champ were very proud of them.

Jonah had gone to law school, he wanted to be a doctor, but he found that he couldn't really do well with blood. However, what he didn't like about the lawyer occupation was that many people considered lawyers to be corrupt. Valerie had become a very famous chef, she had learned to cook all sorts of food from all around the world. Her life dream had been accomplished. With Jonah's help, Spencer had gone back into law school and become partners with Jonah. Of course, that wasn't to say that Spencer didn't also become very famous in the art world.

They had two twins that seemed to be doing well in school. Their kids were boys. Valerie wanted at least one girl so she wouldn't be the only girl there, and that wish came to be when she became pregnant with a baby girl. They were going to name that girl Samantha, in honor of their best friend. The twins were pretty smart, but also they had a lot of girls that liked them.

Susie had become a doctor as well, just like the person that would always be her greatest hero, Sarah. She realized how great it felt to be alive and how great it must feel to save a life, so that was why she chose her profession. She hadn't discovered a cure to anything just yet, but she was hoping to find one soon and save the life of another. Jake had taken voice lessons and excelled at his guitar skills, so he had become a choir and band director at the local high school. It was a good profession that gave him good pay.

They had a successful life and a wonderful son that they were extremely proud of. He did all that he was supposed to do, and made decent grades in school. He knew of his mom's brush with death long ago, and was very thankful for her survival. Why wouldn't he be, though? Without her, he would never have been born. That right there was a thought to think about, the fact that he would never have been born if his mom hadn't survived. Of course, he also thanked Sam all the time as well, because without her, he probably still wouldn't have made it.

Then there was Sam and Freddie, they had a pretty successful life as well. Both of them had a lot of money, despite both being teachers. Freddie was a coach at the local high school, of course, everyone could see that one coming up. Sam also taught the theater class. As for Freddie's back job, he wrote novels, both fiction and non fiction. Sam even helped him write one novel, and that was his greatest one yet. They say it's the greatest, and it is because it was the best seller and it won an award in excellence.

What was the novel about? It was Freddie's great joy. It detailed the story of a man who was torn between various women, but loved one that shined like an angel. The woman that loved the man, but feared that she was unable to have him and eventually went to a streetwise bad boy who seemed so right but was so wrong for her. The loyal friends that stuck by their side the entire way through, including the ex who called the man to the girl. It told the tale of how that woman won the man's heart through it all.

* * *

There it is, the end to mu first pure romance story. I hope no one complains about same plot again, lol. Now I just need to get over the writers block on CARPE DIEM. Enjoy the other stories!


End file.
